UMBC wins 2017 National Collegiate Cyber Defense championship 

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The University of Maryland, Baltimore County defeated nine other finalist teams to win the 2017 National Collegiate Cyber Defense competition April 13-15 in San Antonio.

More than 230 colleges and universities participated in regional competitions that led to this year’s national championship.

“This is the fourth year we have been the title sponsor of NCCDC and watching these students practice their skills in real-life business scenarios gives me confidence we are growing the workforce-ready cyber talent that will meet the future demands of this important field,” said Dave Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. “Congratulations to TheUniversity of Maryland, Baltimore County for a job well done.”

Modeled after real-world scenarios, NCCDC was the first national cybersecurity competition to test how well college students operate and manage a network infrastructure similar to the networks found in the commercial sector. In this year’s National Championship, the competing teams worked to secure a multi-site retail corporation with 160 employees, point of sale systems, inventory systems, and other systems you find in a typical retail company.

“The NCCDC program brings academia, government and industry together in a unique way,” said Dwayne Williams, director of the NCCDC. “Everyone recognizes we need to find and train more cyber professionals and these competitions absolutely help to meet that need.”

At the end of the competition, UMBC  earned the highest score and took home the coveted NCCDC Alamo Cup. Raytheon will bring the winning team to Washington this summer to tour some of the nation’s top research and national cybersecurity sites.

The University of Tulsa placed second in the competition behind UMBC and Brigham Young University was third.