On November 16th, members of Messiah University’s Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) team visited Liberty University for a scrimmage to prepare for the upcoming CCDC competition. Professors Bigelow and Christodoss accompanied the team.
Liberty University, known for its strong performance in national CCDC competitions, provided valuable hands-on training. In a typical CCDC competition, teams secure and manage a small business network while defending against professional hackers (Red Team) and maintaining critical services. The environment is intense, requiring strong technical skills, teamwork, and strategic thinking.
For this scrimmage, Liberty University had students on both the Red Team and the Blue Team. Their Red Team, which trains for the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC), acted as the “hackers” for the scrimmage. Meanwhile, their Blue Team collaborated with Messiah’s Blue Team to defend against the Red Team’s attacks. We formed four teams of three people, each managing their own simulated business environment. This collaboration provided a unique opportunity for both schools to learn from each other and improve their defensive and offensive strategies.
The scrimmage highlighted areas where Messiah needs to improve, particularly in managing Active Directory (AD) joined Linux machines and database management.
Messiah University looks forward to continuing this partnership with Liberty University, with plans for future scrimmages already in the works. We extend our thanks to Liberty for their hospitality and expertise.
Thank you to Chris for this summary!
