At this year’s Splunk University, I had the privilege of chatting with Devesh Logendran, one of the winners in the “12th Singapore Cyber Conquest" contest. Devesh shared a little bit about the contest, his experience with Splunk, and how he envisions applying his knowledge to his future endeavors.
The 12th Singapore Cyber Conquest was a contest that brought together students from various Institutes of Higher-Learning in Singapore, along with teams from other ASEAN countries. Devesh partnered with another student, Jia Le, which proved to be a successful collaboration. As a team, they were tasked with using Splunk software to navigate through data, tackle complex challenges, and accumulate points.
According to Devesh, “It was a thrill to compete in an environment that required swift thinking and the ability to rapidly adapt to new software tools.” He also highlighted the strategic element that underpinned their success and emphasized the importance of choosing challenges wisely to maximize points. Devesh shared that, beyond the joy of winning, he found immense value in gaining hands-on experience with the Blue Team aspect of cybersecurity.
“Familiarity with the Splunk Search Processing Language (SPL) was beneficial during the competition,” said Devesh. “SPL is pretty simple once you become accustomed to its intricacies and knowing how to manipulate data using it was critical to achieving success during the competition.”
As the winning team, Devesh and his teammate were awarded an all-expenses paid trip to Splunk University and .conf23 in Las Vegas. At Splunk University, Devesh enrolled in the Splunk Architect Bootcamp and the SOAR Administrator Bootcamp. His assessment of these courses underscored their practical value – offering a glimpse into how Splunk could be effectively employed in real-world scenarios including SOAR's capabilities with playbooks and tools that greatly enhance incident response.
Although Devesh doesn’t currently use Splunk in his day-to-day life, he believes the knowledge he gained at the Splunk University bootcamps will be helpful and applicable in his future career. Should he find himself in a Blue Team or Security Operations Center (SOC) role, his proficiency with tools like Splunk and SOAR could significantly contribute to his effectiveness in manipulating big data and performing incident response.
Devesh Logendran's journey is just one more example of the transformational potential of learning and skills development. His experience with Splunk and his team’s performance in the BOTS contest showcase the power of dedication and an aptitude for working in cybersecurity.
We really appreciate Devesh’s willingness to share his story! If you have a similar story, please reach out to me, cskokos@splunk.com.
-- Callie Skokos on Behalf of the Splunk Education Crew
