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CW Cyber Warriors Enter National Cyber League Competition

Posted on November 21, 2024 - Posted in: Blog, CW News

On Saturday, November 9, 2024, seven students (Fabrizio Flores, Obinna Ejianya, Dajoni Gomez, Jared McBride, Bryan Tuapanta Yagchirema, Francisco A. Ramirez Garcia, David Torres) from the School of Information Technology competed as one team called the CW Cyber Warriors in the National Cyber League (NCL) cybersecurity competition; a competition that helps prepare students for a career in cybersecurity. Twenty-seven high school students enrolled in the Project Digital Jumpstart (PDJ) program and their instructors, Mr. Raymond Giles III and Mr. Tony Santana, joined our students in this unique learning experience.

Students from the PDJ program were partnered with the CW Cyber Warriors as they worked together to solve challenges such as recovering from ransomware attacks, identifying hackers using forensic data, performing pen testing, auditing website vulnerabilities, password cracking, and more. “The event was highly competitive and entertaining. It was a pleasure to share knowledge with the students, who were attentive and eager to observe and learn. Witnessing their curiosity and interest made this experience truly rewarding”, said Bryan, CW IT student participant.

The goal of the competition was to achieve the best rank. A lower numerical rank meant a better score. Although this was their first time competing in this type of competition, our CW Cyber Warriors ranked 496 out of 4893 teams. Along with the great experience of developing their cybersecurity skills, all participants were rewarded for their skills and performance. Each CW Cyber Warrior was awarded a digital badge which the NCL recommends be added to each participants’ LinkedIn profile, displaying to recruiters the practical experience they gained.

“It was an honor being the coach for the CW Cyber Warriors. I am proud of the hard work and determination of each team member as well as the enthusiasm and contributions of the PDJ students. We are building a generation of cybersecurity experts!” – Dr. Grace Bonanno, Chairperson, The School of Information Technology.

Fabrizio and Jared, both said “the experience was great, enjoyable and very valuable, with Jared saying it challenged his cybersecurity skills and would do it again. Fabrizio added, “the variety of different concepts and types of ethical hacking challenges was interesting in simulating real life scenarios. The communal part as well as classmates meeting up on a Saturday was fun and added to the enjoyment of the competition in general.”

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