(Purdue University News) A team of four computer and information technology graduate students recently won high honors in the international 2013 Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) Digital Forensics Challenge.

The Purdue team, named Or11, took fifth place overall and first place in the graduate student team category. The team also received grand champion status, given to the top 317 achieving teams in the competition.

Members of the Purdue team were William Ellis, Jacob Kambic, Eric Katz and Sydney Liles. Advising the team was Sam Liles, associate professor of computer information technology. The team will receive a plaque and medal for their achievements.

The 10 1/2 month contest, which began in December 2012 and ended Nov. 1, involved more than 1,000 teams from 49 states and 49 countries. Each team consisted of one to four members, and each team was categorized as general, including civilian and commercial teams, or academic, including graduate and undergraduate teams. Winners were announced Dec. 1.

In this annual challenge, teams gain points by tackling digital exercises from novice challenges worth 100 points to developer-level challenges worth 500 points.

DC3 is a wide-ranging group that provides digital services for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Writer: Amanda Hamon, ahamon@purdue.edu, 49-61325