The St. Cloud State University Cyber Competition Club won the Minnesota State Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) for the second consecutive year on Jan. 31.
The CCDC is a premier, nationwide cybersecurity competition designed to test college students’ ability to protect and manage a real-world business network under active cyberattack. It is the largest college‑level cyber defense competition in the United States.
The competition focuses specifically on the operational side of cybersecurity, which includes running, defending and maintaining an existing network infrastructure while balancing business needs. Over 1,500 competitors from more than 170 colleges participate annually.
SCSU came out on top of Minnesota’s eight-hour competition despite having six new members on the eight-person team.
“Team members attributed the victory to the close bonds they formed during the run-up to the competition, as well as the excellent communication they maintained with one another throughout,” said Dr. Mark Petzold, chair of the Department of Computing, Informatics and Data Science. “This speaks volumes for the team as the event is a very stress inducing environment due to the constant attacks from the professional red team hackers, and the requirement to complete 30 strictly timed business tasks throughout the day.”
The Huskies, coached by cybersecurity professor Dave Keller, will next compete in the Midwest Regional CCDC on March 20-21. They will be competing against the state winners from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Team Members
Carl Jenson (Captain)
Muna Aden
Nimo Farah
William Fitzsimmons
Andrew Garcia
Scott Henson
Jack Howard
Andrew Leuze
Colin Robertson
