Underwater Hacker Missile Wars: A Cryptography and Engineering Contest

TL;DR

This paper details a student engineering competition involving cryptography, including workshop activities, participant evaluations, and available resources, aimed at engaging undergraduates in practical cryptography and engineering challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a novel interdisciplinary contest combining cryptography and engineering, with workshop materials and participant feedback analysis.

Findings

Successful engagement of students in cryptography challenges

Workshop materials and code made publicly available

Positive participant self-evaluation results

Abstract

For a recent student conference, the authors developed a day-long design problem and competition suitable for engineering, mathematics and science undergraduates. The competition included a cryptography problem, for which a workshop was run during the conference. This paper describes the competition, focusing on the cryptography problem and the workshop. Notes from the workshop and code for the computer programs are made available via the Internet. The results of a personal self-evaluation (PSE) are described.