Members of the Information Security Assurance Club will represent OSU at the Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

OSU team advances to Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

Tuesday, February 26, 2019

A team of Oklahoma State University students recently teamed up to earn a trip to the Southwest Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

The OSU team, from the Information Security Assurance Club (ISAC) in the Spears School of Business, was among the top eight teams moving on to the Southwest CCDC regional after successfully competing in the virtual qualifying competition. It marks the first time the OSU team has qualified for regionals since 2015. The team that wins the Southwest CCDC regional March 22-24 advances to the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in April.

Representing the OSU/ISAC team were management science and information systems students Jaikob Park (Captain/Flex/Windows), Joshua Finley (Co-captain/Linux/Firewall), Bryor Henson (Windows/Injects), Daniel Bloom (Linux), Jacob Friedberg (Windows), Jonathan Cabrera (Linux), Kyle Frank (Windows/Injects), Rachel Martin (backup/spectator) and computer science student Joshua Ramsey (Linux).

“This year’s ISAC students really stepped up and delivered,” said Dr. Jim Burkman, OSU clinical associate professor and ISAC club adviser. “I’m extraordinarily proud of them and look forward to watching them shine in regionals.”

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition challenges teams of college students to operate and manage a network infrastructure similar to those run by businesses. The teams are scored based on their ability to minimize system infiltration, keep critical services in operation and prevent leaks of sensitive data.

NCCDC tests cyber defense skills in a collegiate competition modeled after real-world attack scenarios. The aim is to encourage more students to pursue cybersecurity careers.

Visit the Information Security Assurance Club website for more information. The club is sponsored in part by ConocoPhillips, Phillips66 and the Department of Management Science and Information Systems (MSIS), the home department for OSU’s cybersecurity programs, including the nation’s fifth-ranked online master’s program in rankings published on CyberDegrees.org.

OSU is an NSA/DHS National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense in both teaching and research.