On Saturday, January 17, 2026, the Messiah University Cybersecurity Competition Team participated in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC) regional qualifier. This virtual cyber defense competition determines which teams advance to the in-person regional event held in the Baltimore area.
MACCDC is an “inherit-and-defend” style competition in which teams are given a simulated business production environment, complete with the systems and services found in a real organization. Teams must quickly assess and harden these systems before attackers (the “red team”) attempt to compromise them. In addition to technical defense, participants operate as a legitimate business—responding to operational requests, maintaining service availability, and writing professional business memos to and from a simulated executive leadership team.
This year, Messiah University’s team was comprised of Chris, Brandon, Ryan, Austin, Michael, Eli, Isaac, and Harley. The team is coached by Dr. David Bibighaus.
We are proud to share that Messiah University placed in the top eight of the regional qualifiers while competing against 16 teams, including many large Division I institutions. This placement advances our team to the in-person regional competition on March 27–28.
This accomplishment reflects the team’s hard work and dedication, as well as the continued growth of Messiah University’s Cybersecurity Program. The team looks forward to building on this experience as they prepare for future competitions.
