Military cadets put their IT-security savvy to the test last week as computer experts from the nation's intelligence agencies and the Pentagon tried to hack into the academies' networks.

It was part of the second annual Cyber Defense Exercise, a competition in which cadets from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard academies were scored on how well they defended their IT turf.

Says Lt. Col. Daniel Ragsdale, director of the IT and operations center at West Point, "In our increasingly information-dependent army, every officer is going to have ... to protect and defend information systems."