Dakota State University students walking around campus

Preparation + opportunity = success

That's the DSU equation. We're a four-year university with nationally recognized programs, cutting-edge facilities, and the brightest thinkers. But we're also a tight-knit, inclusive community. Small class sizes mean hands-on training and individualized attention. All this with an affordable, public school price that's among the best values in the region.

Majors & Degrees

DakotaCon returns

March 4, 2015

DakotaCon returns to the campus of Dakota State University this year for another three full days of presentations and trainings from experts in the security world. Kicking off on Friday, March 6, the premier event will feature speakers including: Dave Kennedy, CEO of TrustedSec, a world-class information security consulting company; Eric Smith, senior partner and principal consultant at Lares Consulting, a team of extensively trained information security professionals; Tyler Halfpop, cyber intelligence analyst for Salesforce, a global cloud computing company; and Scott Erven, associate director at Protiviti, a global business consulting audit firm composed of experts specializing in risk, advisory and transaction services.

Speakers will present to attendees about case studies on malware in memory, medical device security, software defined radios and cellular network frequency and other timely security topics. The event also features a 2-day reverse engineering contest and the North Central Region National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. This regional competition will determine the winner from North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming and Montana institutions that will go on to the National Championship held April 24-26 in San Antonio, Texas.

DakotaCon will also hold two day security trainings right in East Hall. Trainings include: Application Security: For Hackers and Developers, by Jared DeMott, who has spoken at security conferences such as Black Hat, DEF CON, ToorCon, Shakacon and GRRCon; Hands-on Hardware Hacking, by Joe Grand, a product designer and founder of Grand Idea Studio, along with being a former member of the legendary hacker collective L0pht Heavy Industries; and Secret Pen Testing Techniques by Dave Kennedy.

All speaker presentations on Friday are free and open to the public starting at 9 am at the Dakota Prairie Playhouse theatre. For more info, see dakotacon.org.

Sponsors for DakotaCon include:

Gold Sponsors - Raytheon and Secure Banking Solutions

Silver Sponsors - First Premier Bank and Premier Bankcard, SDN Communications, High Point Networks and United States Army Intelligence and Security Command (INSCOM)

Bronze Sponsors - Cisco, East River Electric, Solutionary, Daktronics and Secure Healthcare Solutions