Certification – July 2019

riting profiles for Certi-
fication Magazine brings
me into contact with
many bright and hardworking young
people. It is inspiring to learn of their
accomplishments and, in a way, kind
of humbling to compare the meager
highlights of my youth to theirs.
Selecting an individual student to
profile is always difficult; each one I
meet is so very impressive. Unfortu-
nately, space and time limitations

mean we can’t profile each deserving

student. (That’s the bummer part of

my job.)

Fortunately, thanks to Center Point

High School in Center Point, Ala., I

get to profile four deserving students

at one time, the members of Center

Point’s award-winning cybersecurity

team, SmurfAttack. It’s an appropriate

name. In computer parlance, a smurf

attack is a DDoS attack utilizing large

numbers of message control packets

to swamp a victim’s computer with

electronic traffic. Like a smurf attack,

these girls accomplish a lot together

— but in a positive way.

The origin of the team’s name

began almost 10 years ago when IT

instructor Rick Shirley — Mr. Rick to

his students — affectionately referred

to several students who helped in the

labs and classroom as smurfs. Accord-

ing to Mr. Rick, “the nickname just

sort-of stuck as my helper smurfs.”

Team SmurfAttack is comprised of

four intelligent and charming young

women, each with impressive IT skills

and promising futures. Together they

hold an impressive 17 IT certifications

and they are working on more. All are

involved in extracurricular activities

and organizations, including as the

president, vice president, secretary,

and treasurer of the school’s computer

club.

As good as each is individually,

they are even better together. They

have compiled an impressive record

in a number of statewide and national

tech contests. Victories include a sec-

ond-place finish in the gold tier of the

W

All-girl Alabama cybersecurity skills team

is a force to be reckoned with

Calvin Harper is a for-

mer associate editor of

Certification Magazine,

and a veteran of the

publishing industry.

BY

CALVIN HARPER

PEOPLE IN CERTIFICATION