UTSA to host national cybersecurity championship April 25-27

APRIL 22, 2024 — The UTSA Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS) will host 10 collegiate teams at the 19th Annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) Championship in San Antonio from Thursday, April 25, through Saturday, April 27. The NCCDC, a two-day challenge, will test the teams’ skills in defending against simulated cyber-attacks.

The NCCDC was established in 2005 to encourage students to explore cybersecurity careers. Since that time, it has grown to become one of the largest collegiate cyber defense competition programs in the world. The competition is modeled after real-world commercial business environments and challenges collegiate teams to successfully keep a company running despite constant cyber-attacks. To be named champions and win the Alamo Cup, undergraduate and graduate students must secure and maintain servers and workstations, manage data, administer users, and perform common business-related and administrative tasks while fending off attacks from a live opposition team.

“These students, from the regional level up to the national championship, are highly motivated, capable and heavily recruited by government, academia and industry.”

“This competition is not a classroom exercise. Student teams from across the country train for this event, where they are tasked with managing, operating and defending an organization from a group of live Red Team hackers,” said Greg White, director of the CIAS. “We are extremely proud to host these students and I’m looking forward to seeing the best cybersecurity talent our nation’s colleges and universities have to offer come together for a few days of friendly competition, networking and mentorship.”

In the 2023-2024 season, nearly 1,800 students participated in qualifying and regional CCDC competitions, representing 198 colleges and universities across the United States. The winners of each regional event are advancing to this month’s national championship.

Finalists in the national competition include:

• Brigham Young University (Rocky Mountain Regional)
• Cal Poly Pomona (Western Regional)
• Dakota State University (At Large Regional)
• Indiana Tech (Mid-West Regional)
• Northeastern University (Northeast Regional)
• Oregon State University (Oregon State Regional)
• University of California, Irvine (Wild Card)
• University of Central Florida (Southeast Regional)
• University of Texas at Austin (Southwest Regional)
• University of Virginia (Mid-Atlantic Regional)

“We’re excited to see seven of the 10 collegiate teams returning from last year. These students have developed the technical, leadership and teamwork skills needed to pursue careers in the information security and information technology fields,” said Dwayne Williams, director of the NCCDC and associate director at the CIAS. “These students, from the regional level up to the national championship, are highly motivated, capable and heavily recruited by government, academia and industry. We’re continually amazed at their skill-set and professional work ethic each year.”

— Julina Macy