Welcome!
The increasing number of student competitions reflects the intense and growing need to develop talent and practical skills in cybersecurity. As members of Hood's Cyber Blazers competition team, students learn, train and apply their technical skills, expertise, knowledge, and ethics to solve problems by competing in local, regional and national cybersecurity competitions.
The Cyber Blazers team meets regularly and practices in our Cybersecurity Lab and online. The team is open to undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in developing high-level defensive and offensive cyber skills. For new members, the team provides hands-on training and tutorials to help teammates learn, review and improve their knowledge and skills on current cybersecurity topics and techniques.
Our team participates in various cybersecurity competitions, though students who join the team are not required to compete.
Focus Areas
- System and Network Forensics
- Linux Operating Systems
- Penetration Testing
- Scripting
- Reverse Engineering/Exploitation
- Cryptography
Team Meetings & Training
Fall and Spring semesters: Mondays from 5:30-6:30 pm in HT 308C (confirm time/day/location with team coach for the current semester)
Competitions
The team participates in a number of competitions throughout the year such as:
- National Cyber League (NCL)
- Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory Capture the Flag (MAGIC CTF)
- Department of Energy CyberForce Competition (CyberForce)
- Cyber FastTrack (FastTrack)
Cyber Blazers - TEAM AND INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS
2022
- Spring National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 388th out of 3658 teams competing (Top 10.61%)
- Spring 2022 MAGIC Capture the Flag 12, ranked 50th out of 86 teams competing (Top 58.14%)
2021
- Fall National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 163rd out of 3910 teams competing (Top 4.17%)
- Spring National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 213th out of 922 teams competing (Top 23.10%)
- Silver Bracket (overall), ranked 102nd out of 266 teams competing (Top 38.34%)
2020
- Fall National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 98th out of 957 teams competing (Top 10.24%)
- Silver Bracket (overall), ranked 24th out of 281 teams competing (Top 8.54%)
- Fall National Cyber League (NCL), Log Analysis Domain, ranked 6th out of 957 teams competing (Top 0.63%)
- Silver Bracket (Log Analysis Domain), ranked 1st out of 281 teams competing (Top)
- Spring National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 71st out of 931 teams competing (Top 7.62%)
- Spring National Cyber League (NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 60th out of 119 teams competing (Top 50. 42%)
2019
- Fall National Cyber League(NCL), ranked 31st out of 781 teams competing (Top 3.96%)
- Fall National Cyber League(NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 31th out of 105 teams competing (Top 29.52%)
- Fall 2019 MAGIC's Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Competition, ranked 10th out of 88 teams competing (Top 11.36% )
- Capture the Flag Competition at FCC, ranked 4th out of 13 teams competing (Top 30.76%)
2018
- Fall MAGIC's Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Competition, ranked 8th out of 45 teams competing (Top 17.77%)
- Fall National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 53rd out of 368 teams competing (Top: 14.40%)
- Fall National Cyber League(NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 37th out of 54 teams competing (Top 68.51%)
- Spring MAGIC's Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Competition, ranked 17th out of 40 teams competing (Top 42.50%)
- Spring National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 125th out of 264 teams competing (Top 47.34%)
- Spring National Cyber League(NCL), Silver Bracket, ranked 54th out of 97 teams competing (Top 55.67%)
Cyber Blazers - Individual Rankings
- Seth Wilson: 2020 Department of Energy's CyberForce Competition, ranked 22nd out of 203 players competing (Top 10.83%)
- Seth Wilson: 2020 Cyber FastTrack (Summer Intake), ranked 155th out of 1,173 players competing (Top 13.21% )
- Michael Hodge: 2020 Cyber FastTrack Competition, ranked 199 out of 3,498 players competing (Top 5.68%)
- Seth Wilson: 2020 Cyber FastTrack Competition, ranked 815 out of 3,498 players competing (Top 23.29%)
- Sanket Lange: 2020 Cyber FastTrack Competition, ranked 1,480 out of 3,498 players competing (Top 42.30%)
- Tristan Beyer: 2018 Fall National Cyber League (NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 56th out of 471 players competing (Top 11.88%)
- Tristan Beyer: 2018 Fall National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 60th out of 3,324 players competing (Top 1.80%%)
Cyber Blazers Team Rosters
- 2021-2022: Derek Wyld, Julian Urban, Paige Langmead, Khalid Alatawi, Nasser Alharthi, John Caruthers
- Spring 2022 National Cyber League (NCL): Derek Wyld, Julian Urban, Paige Langmead, Khalid Alatawi, Nasser Alharthi
- Spring 2022 MAGIC Capture the Flag 12: Julian Urban, John Caruthers, Derek Wyld
- 2020-2021: Seth Wilson, Ahmad Abdulmajeed, Khalid Alatawi, Bryan Matthews, Sanket Lange
- Spring 2021 National Cyber League (NCL): Ahmad Abdulmajeed, Bryan Matthews, Reggie Clyburn, Fadi Qazzazee, Mohammed Sabeeh
- Fall 2021 National Cyber League (NCL): Fadi Qazzazee, Mohammed Sabeeh, Khalid Alatawi, Gordon Cohen, Julian Urban, Derek Wyld
- 2019-2020: Michael Hodge, Paul Wells, Sneha Soni, Gordon Cohen, Akeem Olanrewaju, Nikhil Kalva, Seth Wilson, Luan Lepi
- 2018-2019: Ivo Tadic, Kamal Rangavajhula, Joseph Lyons, Jeffery Larson, Neha Prasad, Abdullah Alhogbani, Davon Hill, Warren Scott, Tristan Beyer, Berl Lovelace, Luan Lepi, Connor Brown, Rob de Cespedes, Doug Koster, Brian Patton, Vincent Yu, Michael Hodge, Alice Gallaugher
- 2017-2018: Ivo Tadic, Kamal Rangavajhula, Jeffery Larson, Davon Hill, Tristan Beyer, Rob de Cespedes, Vincent Yu, Michael Hodge
Join Us - Become a Cyber Blazer!
Students interested in joining Cyber Blazers should contact the team coach, Dr. Carol Jim: email jim@hood.edu.
