KC7 Camp 2024: Day 1

Welcome back to cybersecurity camp!

​ This year, we are excited to welcome back almost 50 campers! As with last year, our focus is on helping students improve their investigative mindset. After all, cybersecurity is all about asking the right questions and analyzing data to discover what hackers are doing.

On day one, we explored a quick introduction to data analysis and helped students ask better questions. We started with last year's museum heist mystery—a fan favorite. During this exercise, the students had to figure out who stole an artifact (a Benin Bronze) from the African Art Museum. The students took turns interviewing six witnesses of the crime, building a greater understanding of the heist, and figuring out who might have done it. ​​

Just like last year, we were impressed by the improvement in the quality of the questions that students were asking. Over the course of the exercise, the students learned how to ask more pointed questions and consider competing hypotheses (we threw in a bit of trickery there). This year, we were particularly blown away by the quality of the final reports presented by the students. One group, in particular, provided such a clean and concise analysis of the heist that it bested even our own answer guide.

In the afternoon, we began a data analysis investigation to help a Kung Fu fighter named Po figure out why he is being bested by his arch-nemesis. The students learned how to write basic Kusto queries and how to identify the correct database to investigate. Tomorrow, we'll be adding additional layers to the investigation. The students will learn not just how to solve the investigation, but also how to prove who did it.