Field set for 2016 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Championship

SAN ANTONIO, Texas, April 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security at the University of Texas at San Antonio today announced the 10 finalists for the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) Championship (http://nccdc.org).  The NCCDC, presented by Raytheon (http://www.raytheon.com), will return to San Antonio for the eleventh consecutive year.  The three-day national championship kicks off April 22nd and features the top 10 teams from universities across the country testing their skills in defending against cyber attacks.  The National Champion will be awarded with the Alamo Cup on April 24.

More than 200 collegiate teams competed through NCCDC's qualifying and regional competitions with 10 teams earning advancement to the National Championship.  The winners of the 10 regional CCDC events are:  At-Large Regional:  University of Alaska Anchorage; Mid-Atlantic Regional:  Liberty University; Midwest Regional: DePaul University; Northeast Regional:  Northeastern University;  North Central Regional:  Dakota State University; Pacific Rim Regional:  Columbia Basin College; Rocky Mountain Regional:  Brigham Young University; Southeast Regional:  University of Central Florida; Southwest Regional:  University of Tulsa; Western Regional:  Cal Poly Pomona.

"The number of devices connected to the Internet continues to grow. At the same time, the global community is dependent on integrated systems for communications, finance, trade and defense. Strong cybersecurity is absolutely vital," said Dave Wajsgras, President of Raytheon's Intelligence, Information and Services business. "These students, battle-tested through real-world scenarios, are our future cyber defenders and will be on the front lines defeating the evolving threats to our connected world." 

Modeled from real scenarios and obstacles, the NCCDC is the largest collegiate cyber defense competition program in the world that focuses on the operational aspect of managing and protecting an existing "commercial" network infrastructure.

"CCDC competitions are 'inherit and defend' events," said Dwayne Williams, Director of the NCCDC.  "Teams are given identical small business networks to secure, maintain, and defend.  They must respond to business tasks while fending off attacks from live 'Red Teams' that simulate the real world threats any Internet-connected business faces.  These competitions bring together academia, government, and industry in a really unique way to train future cyber security professionals."

SOURCE Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security

Related Links

www.utsa.edu/cias