ECU cybersecurity team places in top 3% at national competition

Team members include, from left, Brandon Miller, Hannah Graves, Nate Johnson, Collin Roach and Cole Robinson, and not pictured, Jarred Desrosiers and Colby Reeve.

Seven ECU students majoring in information and computer technology competed in the Team National Cyber League competition, placing 92nd out of 3,917 teams, or in the top 3%.

Team members include Brandon Miller, Hannah Graves, Nate Johnson, Collin Roach, Cole Robinson, Jarred Desrosiers and Colby Reeve.

The competition enables students to prepare and test themselves against practical cybersecurity challenges that they will likely face in the workforce, such as identifying hackers from forensic data, pentesting and auditing vulnerable websites. It also tested the students’ skills at recovering from ransomware attacks.

Open to high school and college students in the United States, the National Cyber League is a community and virtual training ground that allows students to develop and demonstrate their technical cybersecurity skills, helping students bridge the gap from curriculum to career. Its annual team competition is the most inclusive, performance-based learning-centered collegiate cybersecurity competition in the country, according to the NCL website.