UCF C3 Team wins 2021 DOE CyberForce National Championship

November 17, 2021

Congratulations to the UCF Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team (C3) Team and coach, Dr. Tom Nedorost, for winning the 2021 Department of Energy CyberForce Competition. UCF’s team finished 1st out of 120 teams (over 700 students) from colleges and universities across the United States. This cyber competition is unique because it requires student teams to build, secure, and defend a complex network comprised of Industrial Control Systems and SCADA devices used by oil pipeline and drilling companies, electric companies, water treatment plants, etc.. This year’s scenario involved designing, securing, and defending the network for an energy company operating a hydropower dam. Kandy Phan, Sandia National Laboratory Red Team Director, complimented UCF’s performance and said UCF “baselined their system really well and they read the rules…[UCF] had good documentation and they knew how their system worked…if this was a real system, their [UCF’s] defense would have kept their OT systems working.” He also complimented the team’s communications skills in their interactions with the competition scorekeeper. Members of this year’s team include Team Captain Jeffrey DiVincent (JR-CS), Cameron Whitehead (MS-DF), Caitlin Whitehead (MS-DF), Aiden Durand (SR-CS), Christopher Fischer (JR-CS), and Matthew McKeever (SO-CS).

For more information, visit https://www.energy.gov/ceser/articles/us-department-energy-names-university-central-florida-winner-cyberforce-competition