First US women's cyber team includes student from RPI

TROY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- The first ever U.S. Women's Cyber team has been assembled and is set to compete in Japan. One of the 12 female students is from the Capital Region. Elan Smolar Eisenberg is a fourth-year undergraduate student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, who is a dual major in computer science and information technology and web science.

"I've always loved doing puzzles," she told NEWS10.

Eisenberg started coding in the third grade and taught herself JavaScript and Python. Her passion has stayed with her helping her understand the language of computers. "It's really just about finding things, figuring out what they're going to do, and solving them," she said.

A student turned to think-like-a-hacker on some days, under the guidance of Brian Callahan, the director of the cyber security research lab at RPI, Eisenberg can easily spot security vulnerabilities. Her defense and attack skills on the computer landed her on the Rensselaer Cybersecurity Collaboratory, which was ranked number one in the country last year. This November, she's headed to Japan to compete on the international stage.

Callahan explained, "She's one of 12 of the very first team. We are super proud of her. This is a dream come true for all of us."

Eisenberg will put her skills to the test in Tokyo for the 2024 Cyber Games. "They'll get a variety of real world cyber security tasks. Read through code to find potential flaws in programs, learn how to exploit them, learn how to get out data," Callahan explained.

"I'm just excited to be able to go out and go to Japan, first of all. I have never been," Eisenberg said.

Along her journey, she is hoping to translate her love of learning the language of computers to young women. "I've been doing computer science for many years, and a lot of the times, I'm one of the few women in the class," she said.

"The idea that Elan now gets to represent the U.S. and RPI as she gets to travel the world and really be a role model for young women in cyber security."

Eisenberg is hoping to show a younger generation of females the many new windows cyber security can open. "Because we are so connected to the internet, connected to tech, it becomes this whole new way of having to protect ourselves."

The U.S. team will be competing against teams from Japan, the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe. The competition will be held November 11.