Cyber Defense team members from left to right: team MVP Nick Maxwell, Max Ramirez, Kenji Aoki, Hans Kokx, Nick Clarke, Team Captain Rob Woolson, Mike Steklac, and John Parott. (Pete Anderson courtesy photo)

At 5 a.m. on a Saturday in March, members from the student computer security organization, CompSec, packed themselves into a white van at Washtenaw Community College. Their destination was Grand Rapids, where they represented the college at Michigan’s Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.  

The CCDC gives teams of full-time college students from across the country, from 2-year and 4-year institutions, the opportunity to test their ability to defend a computer network against trained computer security professionals.

The Washtenaw team finished second, attributing its success to their preparation and no-quit attitude.

The competition—one of several state, regional and national events, kicked off at 9 a.m. and the teams were supposed to be given approximately 30 minutes to secure their computers and network before the attacks started.

“The premise was that a whole IT department just got fired,” said Rob Woolson, the president of CompSec studying computer security. “They are disgruntled and upset so they left a lot of ways to get back on the network. They want to screw up the new team that is coming in to defend the network, which was what our team represented.”

 “Our whole game plan got thrown out of whack because they started messing with our routers within the first 15 minutes of the competition,” said Jon Parothan, a computer security student from Westland.

Also, Parothan said they were bombarded with attacks throughout the day. However, the team adapted all of the situations it found itself in.

Throughout the competition the team of hackers took down computers, network devices and added suspicious accounts to stations. Ultimately, they brought down every team’s network.

  At 6:15 p.m., the competition was called to a close and it was followed by a ceremony where they teams learned how the performed.

“I was shocked to find that we came in second because we got beat on pretty hard and pretty fast,” said Nicholas Maxwell, a WCC computer security student from Freeland.  “We had machines going down from 10 a.m. in the morning until 6 p.m., except for the 45-minute lunch break, and it didn’t stop until they called time.”

“Nobody was able to completely defend against the attacks of the professional hackers,” said Neil Gudsen, a WCC computer information security program manager. “The reasons for our team’s success were that our team hung in there and they kept their cool, they prioritized well, they split up their responsibilities well, and they stayed in the game even when things got tough.”

WCC had not sent a team to this competition for several years. Also, none of the current members of CompSec had participated in a CCDC event.  

“Most of us have not been in a situation where we had been attacked or defended a network,” Woolson said.

To prepare, they used the Friday night CompSec meetings to plan and prepare for the CCDC event.

“We were meeting every Friday for about a month prior to the competition, and we worked on replicating the infrastructure at the competition,” Maxwell said.  

Two WCC computer security instructors, Mike Galea and Doug Cox, volunteered their time to help fill in the gaps of knowledge in defending a network.

“Doug and Mike gave the students a framework for prioritizing the first half hour of the competition before their started to get slammed by the professional hackers,” Gudsen said. “The two of them guided the students as far as researching vulnerabilities and suggesting strategies for protecting the systems.”

Already, they are gearing up for a CCDC event slated for next fall.

“We came away with a breadth of knowledge that you don’t receive in class, possible defenses and attacks,” Maxwell said. “This really showed us what it would be like in a work place.”

CompSec meets Friday from 6-10 p.m. in TI 240. For more information, contact Woolson at rwoolson@wccnet.edu.

On a frigid February day at the corner of Washtenaw and Mansfield in Ypsilanti, a man dressed in a Statue of Liberty costume holds up a sign that reads “Honk if you Love Liberty Tax.”

There was silence on the corner that day though almost everyone has to answer to the tax man. The start of February marks the beginning of the 2½-month-long sprint to file taxes here in the United States.

Many college students, or their parents or guardians, across the country are entitled to tax credits, tax write-offs and discounted tax services that were designed to help with the burden of paying for education.

Kathleen M. Jackson, a general manager at Liberty Tax Service, explained that whoever claims a student on their taxes is eligible for education tax credits. This person can be the actual student or the student’s parents.

“Currently, the most advantageous credit that a student can take advantage of in their first four years of claiming their education is the America Opportunity Tax Credit,” Jackson said. “This basically entitles you to up to $1,000 back that you did not pay in income for that year. If you have not personally claimed this education credit then you are eligible to four years of the tax credit.”

“I didn’t know there were any tax benefits available to students,” said Joshua David Martin, 19, of Ann Arbor, a graphic design student at Washtenaw Community College.

“Most people don’t have the time to look up all of the tax benefits that they are entitled to receive,” Jackson said.

Jackson added that she has filed taxes for international students and several of these students have received a tax refund based off of tax credits.

“I am extremely lazy when it comes to my taxes,” said Briannah Henderson, 21, of Ann Arbor, majoring in childhood develop at WCC. “I literally wait for my W-2s then I take them to H & R Block because my sister told me to go there. They do all of my taxes for me.”

Henderson added that she thinks a lot of students are too busy to do the research about the tax breaks that are available to them. She works two jobs in addition to her course work at WCC.

“There are a lot of students who are not taking advantage of the AOTC,” said Jackson. “I file taxes for students every year who do not have any idea that they are eligible for this education credit.”

Also, Henderson said she has not invested time in educating herself about her taxes because she has depended on H & R Block to get her the best tax return. H&R Block charges her $142 to do her taxes.

You can file your taxes yourself for free, or at a reduced cost, using tax software or using a pencil and the printed forms.

“The difference between doing your taxes yourself and filing through a tax service is significant,” Jackson said. “However you do not have support in the event there is an audit. We work to ensure that your taxes are accurate.”

The United Way offers a free tax service for students at 23035 Platt Rd., near Washtenaw, Feb. 4-March 10 from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Jackson said that her tax business provides free services to certain career fields during March. For more information contact a local Liberty Tax Service office.

“The education tax credits aren’t limited to your tuition and fees,” Jackson said. “The IRS allows you to deduct anything that is necessary to complete your course work can be deducted. If you purchase Word 2007 for a course, then you can deduct the cost of that software from your taxes.”

Martin said that his mother claims him as a dependent on her taxes. Also, she told him to hold onto a receipt for a laptop that he purchased for his classes at WCC for her taxes.

Henderson said that H&R Block has used the receipts from her books purchases to make deduction on her taxes.

The IRS allows you to amend your taxes if you find that you made a mistake or if there is a credit that you didn’t take into account.

“I did the taxes for one student this year and she brought me her tax forms for previous years so that I could amend those taxes so she could get a refund for those years,” said Jackson. “She had no idea that this education credit was available because no one told her.”

Henderson said that she has already completed her taxes for this year.

Luckily she can amend her taxes if she finds that there is a credit or write-off available that was missing from the taxes that were filed.

Henderson said a lot of students learn by word of mouth rather than researching this type of information.

Jackson added that about 10 percent of her clients are students. This number is growing every year because word is spreading about the tax credits.

Martin admits that he didn’t really want to worry about doing his taxes in past years. However, now he works part-time and he has a graphic design business so he changed his mind about doing his taxes.

Martin said that next year he plans to start doing his own taxes. Also, he will educate himself about tax credits and deductions for students, as well as business owners.

“If you want to educate yourself about tax benefits, then you should get on the IRS website,” Jackson said. “They have an excellent search engine.”

The IRS website can be found at

http://irs.gov/.

For more information, visit:

http://aiprx.libertytax.com,

http://hrblock.com/,

or http://wuway.org/