National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

This past weekend I had the pleasure of traveling to San Antonio, TX with Congressmen Gonzalez (D-TX), Reyes (D-TX), and Rodriguez (D-TX) to present the Alamo Cup to Northeastern University, the winners of the fifth annual National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC). The University of Louisville took second and third place honors went to Cal Poly Ponoma.

The NCCDC, hosted by the University of Texas at San Antonio and sponsored by the Department of Homeland Security and various private sector organizations, brings winners of regional cyber defense competitions together for a three day competition each year.

The competition focuses on the operational aspect of managing and protecting network infrastructure. Teams are scored based on their ability to detect and respond to outside threats, maintain availability of existing services such as mail servers and web servers, respond to business requests such as the addition or removal of additional services, and balance security needs against business needs. In addition to the competition, the students get a chance to network with professionals from government and industry, who are always on the lookout for up and coming engineers.

NCCDC winners from Northeastern University with the Alamo Cup.

The NCCDC aligns with the White House’s National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), which is an outgrowth of the Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative and the Cyberspace Policy Review (pdf). You can read more about NICE here (pdf). Congratulations to Northeastern University and all the participants in the NCCDC.

Howard A. Schmidt is Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator.