Ryan Mathews and Parsa Djavaheri, members of the USask Cyber Security Team, discuss the club’s latest activities, goals and plans.

At the Computer Science Fair in September 2023, Ryan Mathews and Parsa Djavaheri, two undergraduate computer science students at USask, were shocked to discover a Cyber Security Team within the Department of Computer Science that only had a handful of people attending the weekly meetings. Like many other USask clubs, the COVID-19 pandemic had negatively impacted the Cyber Security Team’s operations. 

“As the weeks went on, we noticed that more and more people were dropping off, mostly due [to] the fact that no one really knew of the club. And we [Mathews and Djavaheri] were having fun week to week. Me and Parsa kept talking. We had all these really, really good ideas,” explained Mathews, the President of the Cyber Security Team. Mathews is also a part-time computer science student and a full-time network engineer for the university.

Djavaheri, the Vice-President of the Cyber Security Team and a third-year computer science student hoping to pursue an Honours degree, said that lengthy discussions with professionals in the Department of Computer Science about potential topics to cover and how to get students interested in cybersecurity laid the foundation for the revival of the team. 

When elections for club executives rolled around, Mathews and Djavaheri ran for President and Vice-President, respectively, and have been leading the club since. 

The Cyber Security Team is, of course, cyber security-focused. They hold weekly short lectures on different aspects of the field, ranging from the history of cybersecurity and how it has been exploited in the past to the physical, psychological, and social aspects of the field. The team also discusses how to recognize potential cybercrimes and how to navigate situations where one might be a target. These talks are usually followed by demonstrations or challenges designed by the executives to translate the concepts into real-life scenarios. For example, one of their most recent exercises was focused on educating the participants on the potential dangers of unsecured websites. By having participants visit a fake website fabricated by the executives, Mathews was able to control their computers and perform several tasks, such as forcing the browser to visit a different page and open pop-up windows.

“That caused a lot of shock in the room (…) When we actually showed [the participants] the practical demonstrations on how this works, I think that really set the fear in people of ‘Oh, wow. This is not [just] something you see in TV and movies,’” said Mathews. “This is something that people can do with very little time if they have the resources to do so.”

Djavaheri added that another key aspect of the club is their organization of internal Jeopardy-style ‘Capture the Flag’ competitions, where participants must look for vulnerabilities in different software programs, websites, or networks, to accumulate points. According to Djavaheri, this prepares team members to partake in larger-scale ‘Capture the Flag’ events hosted by other institutions or cybersecurity enthusiast groups.

“When we go and represent the University of Saskatchewan in those competitions, we have a strong team with a strong foundation that can do well in those challenges,” he expressed.

The last event they attended was the local security conference BSides Saskatoon, where the team attended lectures from cyber security experts and participated in a ‘Capture the Flag ’-style competition, narrowly missing first place and finishing second behind the University of Regina. 

“The experience was extremely rewarding,” said Djavaheri. The team got the opportunity to network with industry professionals, with Djavaheri mentioning how they got to see how they approach and solve problems and collaborate with others.

“Not only does [the competition] allow you to flex your skills [and] what you’ve learned so far, [but] it [also] allows you to be creative, and it allows you to have [strong] collaboration that you won’t see in other team activities,” he mentioned. Mathews added that every team member has their own niche, likening their relationship to that of a sports team.

Mathews and Djavaheri emphasized that the Cyber Security Team is not just for computer science majors. Members from different disciplines including engineering, physics, business, bioinformatics, and agriculture, have benefitted from being involved.

“No matter what major you’re in, you’re going to experience cyber security at some point in your career,” said Mathews. Independent of your career, he believes that it’s likely we will be a target of cybercrime in our lives and we need to know what this looks like to be more security conscious. “With the internet, everything feels so easy. But that’s also a scary thing — because attacking someone’s also very easy,” he explained. 

Mathews also insists that non-computer science student members can improve their creative thinking and problem-solving skills by learning how to work around problems and come up with novel, creative solutions. 

Another benefit Matthews believes people can earn from the club is learning to think simply about all the possible solutions to a problem. He enthusiastically recounted a time during a challenge when his vigorous attempts at a solution, based on his previous five years of schooling, were overshadowed by Djavaheri simply finding the answer at the bottom of a file opened in a text editor. “It keeps people humble, but allows them to really work around things in interesting ways,” he added. 

Mathews explained that the club is meant for all people and that regardless of your skill level, the challenges are structured so that their level of difficulty varies. This way, people from all skill levels can experience something new and potentially solve a problem.

Another major benefit the club provides is the social aspect of meeting new people with similar interests. Mathews and Djavaheri emphasize that the club is a good place to work together on problems and bounce ideas off each other. “My favorite part about our meetings is walking around the room, and if anybody has a question about the challenge or just wants to talk, I can interact with them,” said Djavaheri. “I’ve been noticing friend groups forming. Very spontaneous friendships that happen because they share the same interests,” he added. 

Additionally, Mathews explained that the club is always keen on pursuing the success of its members. “Are you going for a job? Talk to us. Let’s look at your resume. Let’s get everyone to come in and try and provide our feedback. We want to make sure that people have everything they need to succeed, whether they’re still in university or outside of the university,” he said. To support these goals, the club is trying to get more industry professionals involved. In the future, they hope to get USask graduates in the field of cyber security to deliver talks about their experience in the industry, the steps they took to get to that point, and to provide their insights on the field from a career perspective.

The USask Cyber Security Team holds weekly meetings on Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on the third floor of the Spinks Addition building, in the student computer labs. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own laptops, but there are usually enough computers in the room for everyone to use. The team communicates through a Discord server where all membership information is provided, including notes on the lectures given every week, information on different USask computer science programs, and general advice. Instructions to join the server are provided in the room where meetings are held. Additionally, the club encourages professors to reach out to them if they wish to have demos related to cyber security performed in their classes.

For more information on the USask Cyber Security Team and their operations including contact links, please visit their website.

The USask Cyber Security Team encourages people from all academic backgrounds to check out the club — even if you’re not a computer science student, you never know where a new interest might lie!