UCF wins NIATEC Invitational Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

April 17, 2021

Congratulations to the UCF Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team and coach Tom Nedorost for winning the 8th Annual NIATEC Invitational Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition on Saturday, April 17th. The competition, hosted by the National Information Assurance Training and Education Center at Idaho State University, is typically held in November on the ISU campus in Pocatello, ID. However, last Fall’s competition was postponed due to the pandemic and rescheduled for Spring 2021.

NIATEC developed a dynamic virtual infrastructure and populated it within a creative scenario environment to produce a holistic security experience. The NIATEC Invitational is renowned for creating unique and extensive themes to actively engage participants in over-the-top story lines. This year’s theme was “@VENGERS: The IPv War” and competitors raced to save the universe from annihilation by an ethereal hacktivist known at Tan.OS. 13 teams, predominantly from western mountain states, entered teams in this year’s competition. This is the second consecutive year that UCF claimed the 1st Place trophy. Utah State University finished in 2nd Place and Brigham Young University – Provo claimed 3rd Place.

The NIATEC Invitational Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition puts student teams in the role of system administrators attempting to defend their networks from aggressive attackers, who seek to cripple the availability of their systems. At the same time, the student teams are responsible for developing and implementing security policy and controls to secure both the digital and technical environments.

Members of this year’s NIATEC team include (L-to-R):
Bil Erden, CS – Junior
Harrison Keating, CS – Freshman
Kelsey Hall, BioMed – Freshman
Caleb Wisley, CS – Freshman