What does the 麻豆原创鈥檚 star cyberdefense team have in common with the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls? They鈥檝e all racked up three consecutive national championships.
The student Collegiate Cyber Defense Club @ 麻豆原创 locked up an unprecedented three-peat victory on Sunday at the 2016 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in San Antonio.
鈥淚t was surprising and fantastic,鈥� team captain聽Jonathan Lundstrom said of the moment the students learned 聽they won. 鈥淥ne of the members checked his pulse and it was over 100. The anticipation was extreme.鈥�
The competition victory comes on the heels of 麻豆原创 being named a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education just last week by the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security. It鈥檚 an honor that recognizes the strength of the university鈥檚 cyberdefense programs, curriculum, faculty and students.
More than 180 college and university teams vied for the cyberdefense championship. The 麻豆原创 club鈥檚 competition team already had won the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, its fourth straight win of that regional competition, to earn a spot in the national contest.
At the three-day national competition, the 麻豆原创 team beat nine other teams 鈥� each of them the best from their region of the country 鈥� to earn the victory. 麻豆原创 has dominated the field for the past three years. The team brings home the competition鈥檚 Alamo Cup.
At the national competition, teams operated and managed the network of a fictitious aerospace defense contractor. They use cutting-edge cybersecurity tools and their own finely honed cyberskills to monitor network activity and fend off attacks from hackers trying to gain access to blueprints and other information stored on company servers.
The competition, sponsored by Raytheon, the Department of Homeland Security, Accenture, Walmart and other major companies and government agencies, is modeled after real-world scenarios. Its goal is to prepare students to strengthen the nation鈥檚 network infrastructure in a time of relentless attacks by hackers.
鈥淓veryone recognizes we need to find and train more cyberprofessionals. Competitions absolutely help to meet that need,鈥� competition director Dwayne Williams said. 聽鈥淎cross the nation, the competition gets harder and teams get better each year.鈥�
麻豆原创鈥檚 team is made up of Lundstrom, Carolyn Chenicek, Kevin Colley, Alexander Davis, Matthew DeGraffenreid, Jonathan Haas, Heather Lawrence, David Maria, Edward Mojica, Michael Rossi, Matthew St. Hubin and Neil Stagner.
Hack@麻豆原创, whose faculty advisor is Thomas Nedorost, has more than 200 members, most of whom are majoring in computer science or computer engineering in the College of Engineering & Computer Science. The dozen on the competition team are required to maintain full-time student status. In addition to school and work 鈥� they all have jobs 鈥� they train together two to three times a week. Including time they put in at home, it amounts to about 20 hours a week of practice.
鈥淚t definitely requires a lot of dedication,鈥� Lundstrom said.
Brigham Young University placed second, and DePaul University placed third.
The win comes with more than just bragging rights. There are typically internships and job offers from competition partner Raytheon. The company also will host the winning team in Washington, D.C., over the summer for tours of top research and cybersecurity sites. The past two years, team members also had private tours of the White House.