Last weekend, Messiah University’s cybersecurity team competed in the NCAE Cyber Games Regional Competition and placed 4th out of 13 teams in our division. The NCAE Cyber Games is funded by the NSA to bring together teams from universities across the country to test their skills in a live, adversarial environment. Unlike traditional Capture the Flag competitions, the NCAE Cyber Games drops teams into a real network that must be built, configured, and defended from scratch, all while professional hackers have already compromised it and are actively attacking the systems.
Over the course of seven intense hours, our team managed six systems and over a dozen services, while maintaining operations and responding to real-time attacks. We finished 4th in our division, narrowly behind two teams from Virginia Tech and just short of division winner Northeastern University. Competing that closely with programs that have well-established cybersecurity departments is a testament to the talent and preparation this team brought to the table.
A huge congratulations goes out to every member of the team: Noah, Gabe, Nick, Drew, Noah, Jonah, Zach. The team is coached by Dr. Bibighaus.
We would also like to thank NCAE for running this event and providing funding, and Messiah University’s cyber department for their continued support. Go Falcons!
Thanks to team captain Noah for writing this post.