Under a high-stakes, simulated cyberattack and mounting pressure, the UCF Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition (C3) team proved it can defend, adapt and outperform — earning first place at the 2026 Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC).

The team rose above nine competitors, including Tennessee Tech ����ֱ��, Clemson ����ֱ��, the ����ֱ�� of South Florida and the ����ֱ�� of Florida. With the win, UCF advances to the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, which will be held virtually next month.

Twelve students make up this year’s C3 team: sophomore information technology (IT) majors Gabriel Edwards and Maksim Shostak; junior IT majors Logan Autry, Anthony Donnelly, Joseph Durand, Adam Raczynski and Jonathan Styles; senior IT major Ardian Peach; sophomore computer science major Tyler Waddell; junior computer science major Benjamin Williams; cyber security and privacy master’s student Andy Pompura ’23; and senior prelaw major Noah Magill, who serves as team captain.

UCF’s Legacy of Cybersecurity Success

Their stellar performance marks UCF’s ninth first-place finish at the Southeast CCDC regional since 2013. UCF earned runner-up finishes in 2017 and 2025, along with first-place titles in special at-large CCDC regionals during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“UCF has historically maintained high service availability levels while under attack by the red team.” — Tom Nedorost ’02�ѳ�, senior instructor and C3 team coach

The team not only clinched the top spot but also swept all three categories, winning Best in Uptime Service, Best in Business and Best in Defense.

“UCF has historically maintained high service availability levels while under attack by the red team,” says Tom Nedorost ’02�ѳ�, C3 team coach and senior instructor of computer science and IT. “We lived up to that expectation again this year, which resulted in winning the Best in Uptime Service award.”

Nedorost adds that the team strengthened its ability to complete technical service requests while hardening systems against vulnerabilities to protect their network, key improvements that led to the two additional category wins.

Putting Cyber Defense Skills into Practice

At each competition, teams are tasked with defending a fictional company’s network against cyberattacks launched by red team members attempting to infiltrate it. All the while, competitors must maintain business operations and respond to customer service requests.

Each obstacle mimics real-world scenarios cybersecurity professionals face, allowing competitors to demonstrate their technical skills, business acumen and ability to collaborate.

It’s fun to go up against people [who, collectively,] would be a force to reckon with in the cyber world .” — Noah Magill, prelaw major and C3 team captain

Magill says the Southeast CCDC is among the most competitive, with red team members from leading companies such as Amazon Web Services and Cisco.

“All of them put together make up one of the scariest real-world life adversaries,” Magill says. “It’s fun to go up against people [who, collectively,] would be a force to reckon with in the cyber world — and a lot of [them] are [UCF] alumni.”

Next Up: Nationals

As the team sets its sights on the national competition, the work is far from over. Magill says a few more 100-hour weeks are likely ahead.

“Everyone on the team is incredibly adept at what they do and world-class [in] their specialty,” Magill says. “Leading this team [and relying] on such amazing teammates with such a diverse amount of skills has been really awesome.”

The annual competition, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, challenges competitors to protect a critical infrastructure against malicious cyber activity. This year, 96 teams representing 71 universities put their cybersecurity skills to the test by protecting a wind energy generation plant.

“CyberForce is the preeminent collegiate cyber defense competition during the fall semester,” says team head coach and advisor Tom Nedorost. “It’s big news that we’ve won it five times in the past nine years. No other team has won more than once.”

The first-place team, A Team With a Dream, comprises cyber security and privacy master’s student and team captain Harrison Keating ’24, cyber security and privacy master’s students Jeffrey DiVincent ’23 and Matthew McKeever ’24, computer science doctoral students Caitlin Whitehead ’24MS and Cameron Whitehead ’24MS, and senior computer science student Rodrigo Almeida Santos.

UCF’s second team, the Citronauts, had a commendable performance earning sixth place and a spot among the top 10 finishers in the competition. The team comprises junior political science student and team captain Noah Magill, junior computer science major Joseph Durand, senior computer science student Anthony Marrongelli, junior IT student Ardian Peach and sophomore computer science students Muhammad Ali and Miles Rack.

The competition began with surprising comments that both acknowledged UCF’s winning legacy at the DOE CyberForce Competition and served as motivation for the two UCF teams.

“During the welcoming remarks this year, several DOE administrators challenged the other teams not to let UCF win again,” Nedorost says. “However, we still won, and our other team finished in sixth place among a field of 96 teams.”

Santos, the youngest member of A Team With a Dream, competed for the first time at this year’s contest.

“Although I was aware of UCF’s track record and everyone’s desire to win, I did not expect it to be clearly broadcasted in the welcome remarks,” Santos says. “We stay humble because that’s part of our character and … we are aware that getting comfortable and letting success get to our heads is a recipe for disaster.”

Whitehead, a team veteran and member of UCF’s first-place team for four DOE CyberForce Competitions, says the surprising mention of UCF in the welcoming remarks only motivated the team to work harder.

“Everyone on the team knows that the big room at CyberForce is full of extremely talented people,” she says. “We 100% did not take it as given that we were going to win. Even at the times when we are in first [place] on the leaderboard, just a little bit of bad luck or poor judgment could make all the difference in placement. So we need to make sure to work as hard as we can and not pass up any opportunity to earn more points.”

Although the students competed in person in St. Charles, Illinois, last weekend, the competition actually began the week prior. Each team submitted security documentation outlining its infrastructure and defense strategies for the wind energy generation plant, along with a video aimed at C-suite executives, detailing their assessment and plans to secure the plant.

At the all-day, in-person competition, teams worked to block and mitigate cyberattacks, keep services and features running efficiently, and perform technical tasks, all while maintaining a high level of service for their customers.

“To me, the most challenging aspect of the competition was the countless hours of preparation that led to the eventual competition day, combined with handling the pressure of competing against dozens of other universities working hard to win,” Santos says.

Whitehead says one reason UCF teams have been so successful is because they consist of members with a strong combination of varied strengths, tailor made for a comprehensive competition.

“One of the things that really makes CyberForce stand out as a truly great cybersecurity competition is the breadth of skills that it covers, including a variety of soft skills, system defense, intrusion detection and response, digital forensic analysis, reverse engineering, critical infrastructure-specific knowledge and experience, cybersecurity policy application, and more,” Whitehead says. “Ultimately, I think our teams stand out by selecting a group … with a wide breadth of experience in all of these areas, as well as a willingness to throw ourselves into learning to perform any tasks that we may be less comfortable with.”

An unexpected highlight of the competition was a 10th anniversary display that chronicled its history and, in recognition of UCF’s impressive performance over the years, paid tribute to the university’s legacy at CyberForce.

“[There was] an exhibit at the side of the competition showing pictures from the last 10 years, which was fun to see, especially since UCF has had such a significant presence in this competition over the years,” Whitehead says. “I also loved that the theme colors this year were, coincidentally, black and gold.”

Organizers hosted its second Horse Plinko Cyber Competition this month, attracting more than 160 competitors.

The contest with the silly name offers serious experience for anyone interested in cyber defense. Participants role-play as cybersecurity interns who defend a fictional company, the International Horse Plinko League, from various cyberattacks. During the six-hour competition, “plinkterns” are tasked with three priorities: identifying threats, bolstering defenses to keep the threats from returning, and keeping the company’s critical services up and running in real time.

“We simulate a business network for teams to defend and pit them against live attackers attempting, and succeeding, to hack into their network,” says competition director Harrison Keating ’24, a cybersecurity and privacy master’s degree student and captain of UCF’s Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition (C3) team. “That’s an experience many of them will not get again until they are working in the field.”

One of the big draws to Horse Plinko is the levity its organizers have weaved into the event. The contest underscores the valuable hands-on experience it offers with a healthy dose of fun.

“We have a LinkedIn profile and website for the fictional company, there’s recurring characters that appear in-person during the competition, and there are a lot of running jokes,” Keating says. “Keeping it light-hearted helps make the competition more approachable to new students.”

He adds that Horse Plinko is structured to mimic a real-world environment not just in terms of the technical skills required of future cyber professionals, but for the interpersonal skills needed as well.

“Cybersecurity is a highly collaborative field, and this is a good chance for them to develop their teamwork and communication skills in a high-pressure environment,” Keating says. “It also helps students network with their peers and learn from each other.”

With several dozen competitions under their belts — including a recent National College Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) championship — organizers have a wealth of experience to draw upon to develop and run the event. They intend to bring cyber skills to the masses with a contest designed to be accessible to anyone with an interest in cyber, no matter the major or skill level.

“Our club has over 350 members, and only eight of them get to compete in the National CCDC,” says Keating. “Our mission is to provide that kind of quality learning experience to as many students as possible.”

Keating says live contests like these aren’t widely available to students because of the infrastructure and manpower required to run them. Horse Plinko, however, is supported by hundreds of members from the C3 team and Hack@UCF. Previous Horse Plinko competitors returned to help run the next event, bringing their ideas and experience to a new batch of plinkterns.

“It enables us to design from the perspective of a beginner and tailor the experience to where they’re at in their learning journey,” Keating says.

First-time competitor Muhammad Ali, a freshman computer science major, was completely new to cyber competitions. He shunned “blue team” or cyber defense activities, preferring to work on “red team” or cyberattack skills. Despite an obvious interest and acumen in cybersecurity — he says he hacked into his dad’s computer at the age of 9 — he says he didn’t think he had the skills to participate.

That all changed after his first experience with Horse Plinko.

“It’s a different story when you’re tasked against a whole squad of live red team hackers trying everything to take your services down,” Ali says. “It’s a lot of fun.”

He and his team placed second at the competition. In addition, he’s now scheduled to compete at two out-of-state cyber competitions next month.

“I suffer from imposter syndrome where I feel as if I’m not actually good enough for cybersecurity,” says Ali. “Surprisingly a lot of people do. UCF has a great community that has instilled not just self-confidence but acceptance for myself.”

Ali adds that he has every intention of participating in Horse Plinko again as an attacker on the red team.

“I never thought I’d enjoy Horse Plinko this much,” he says. “I am 100% doing this again next year. If you’re afraid of ‘blue teaming’, or [are] new to cybersecurity, Horse Plinko is the best place to get first-hand experience.”

“I researched the past winners and saw UCF’s history of dominance. I knew I wanted to go here and work with the best.” — Harrison Keating ’24, student

Harrison Keating ’24, who earned his bachelor’s in computer science in May, and is now enrolled as a master’s student in cyber security and privacy, won dozens of competitions for UCF. At the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) in April, he served as team captain of a UCF team, which recently defeated nine other regional champions in the largest collegiate competition of its kind in the nation. The team won UCF’s record sixth national championship in San Antonio and the Alamo Cup trophy in April this year.

“I had been interested in cybersecurity competitions for a long time,” says Harrison, who is from St. Augustine, Florida. “When I learned about the NCCDC — the most prestigious cyber defense competition in the U.S. — I researched the past winners and saw UCF’s history of dominance. I knew I wanted to go here and work with the best. Being geographically close to home helped too, but after visiting as a high schooler and attending several Hack@UCF club meetings, I was hooked. That active, passionate student community around cybersecurity is really what drew me in.”

A Dynasty of Champions

UCF’s cybersecurity program is not just about classroom learning — it’s about real-world success and a dominant force in collegiate cyber sports.

The most recent victory, winning the NCCDC, often dubbed the “Super Bowl” of cybersecurity competitions, a record six times, further cemented UCF’s status as a dynasty in the world of competitive cyber competitions.

Overall, UCF’s Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team is the nation’s best collegiate cybersecurity competition team, winning a total of 12 national championships since 2014.

The UCF Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team members are all members of larger Collegiate Cyber Defense Club (also known as Hack@UCF), which has grown exponentially as a club in the past few years. Club membership has nearly doubled over the past four years from 210 active student members in 2020 to a record 406 active members by the end of the 2023-24 school year. The 2024-2025 school year is off to a great start with over 350 students joining the club within the first month of the school year.

“With our successful track record in the [NCCDC] and other cyber competitions over the years, it’s an undeniable fact that UCF has the best cyber program, best students and best coaches in the nation,” says Professor of Computer Science Tom Nedorost ’02�ѳ�, who is head coach of the team.

“With our successful track record in the [NCCDC] and other cyber competitions over the years, it’s an undeniable fact that UCF has the best cyber program, best students and best coaches in the nation.” — Tom Nedorost ’02�ѳ�, professor and Hack@UCF coach

The team’s success is no accident. UCF’s competitive edge stems from a comprehensive and hands-on approach to cybersecurity education. Students engage in complex scenarios that mimic real-life cyber threats, requiring them to protect networks and systems from simulated attacks. This immersive learning model sharpens their skills, prepares them for high-stakes situations and gives them a significant advantage when entering the workforce.

“Unfortunately, cybercrime is profitable,” Keating says. “There’s a growing industry of ransomware attacks that hold entire companies and their customers’ data hostage. We know that 60% of small to medium businesses have experienced at least one cyber attack. It’s everybody’s problem at this point … in world of social media, online banking and cloud storage, everyone is connected to the Internet in some way. It can all be hacked; it’s inescapable now.”

According to Cyberseek.org, there are nearly 470,000 open cybersecurity positions available today in the United States including 23,424 open positions within Florida. The national number of individuals employed in cyber careers has increased by 55% since 2010 while the number of cyber job openings has increased by 69%.  In Florida alone, the number of individuals employed in cyber careers has increased by 67% since 2010 while the number of cyber job openings has increased by 80%.  Within Florida, the highest concentrations of cyber opportunities are in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater; Orlando-Kissimmee; West Palm Beach-Ft. Lauderdale-Miami; and Jacksonville.

Harrison has a drive that fits the ever-evolving landscape of his field of study. He has completed internships as a security engineer with Core & Main, and as a network engineer with IBM Research. In addition to his master’s coursework and preparing for upcoming competitions, Harrison is employed full-time as a Cybersecurity Engineer at Abbott Laboratories, on a team comprised mostly of UCF and C3 alumni. He also found ways to pursue his interest in the business side of cybersecurity, including a first place finish in UCF’s Joust New Venture Competition last spring.

Collaboration and Competition

Last fall, Harrison founded and served as the competition director for the inaugural Horse Plinko Cyber Challenge, a fun and educational cyber contest designed for beginning cybersecurity students. The competition is returning this fall Oct. 5-6 — this time with over 200 registered participants. This event is 100% student-run and provides students with an entry point into the competitive and valuable experiences they need to compete on teams like his and ultimately pursue careers in cybersecurity — which is sorely needed, as cybercriminals extorted a record $1.1 billion last year.

“Competing on UCF’s cybersecurity team was probably the best decision I’ve made since joining UCF,” says Matthew McKeever ’24, who earned his bachelors in computer science and has also returned for a master’s degree in cyber security and privacy, after interning at Microsoft security group, where a job offer has been extended for him to join.

“Competing on UCF’s cybersecurity team was probably the best decision I’ve made since joining UCF.” — Matthew McKeever ’24, student

“Competing has taught me topics and concepts you learn in class but … I would say that competitions are more valuable than the classes you take. Companies sometimes view competition experience as working experience,” McKeever says.

After winning the NCCDC, the UCF Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition Team was invited by Nightwing, an intelligence services company and sponsor of the largest collegiate-level cyber competition, to meet cyber professionals in the public sector who are charged with securing the nation against cyber adversaries. The UCF team and their coach, Nedorost, visited the Pentagon, Central Intelligence Agency, U.S. Secret Service, Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), Homeland Security Investigations Cyber Crimes Center, the Library of Congress and the U.S. Capitol.

Meeting the group at the Pentagon was Mieke Eoyang, deputy assistant secretary of defense for cyber policy. She welcomed the students and informed them of the types of career opportunities available for cybersecurity professionals at the U.S. Department of Defense.

At the CIA, the students toured the Cyber Operations Center and spoke with recently hired CIA cyber professionals about their career experience. Visiting the U.S. Secret Service, students learned that the original purpose of the agency was to investigate counterfeit currency. While that purpose is still part of the mission, the agency is involved in all types of counterfeit activities, including falsified documents and signatures, as well as providing protective services for U.S. political figures, their families and visiting heads of state or government.

Securing a Future in the Digital Age

For students passionate about cybersecurity, UCF offers more than just an education — it provides a pathway to a successful and impactful career. Whether aiming to defend networks, protect critical infrastructure, or contribute to the global fight against cybercrime, UCF is the place to sharpen skills, compete with the best and launch a thriving career.

With a winning tradition, cutting-edge curriculum and real-world training that industry recruiters notice, UCF stands out as the leader in cybersecurity education.

More than 2,100 competitors from 198 schools participated in events across the country during NCCDC regional events, with the top 10 teams advancing to the national championship.

As one of the nation’s largest collegiate competitions of its kind, this year’s NCCDC tasked competitors with the scenario of managing, operating and defending the network infrastructure of a human resource outsourcing firm while responding to business tasks, customers, and fending off a group of live Red Team hackers.

“With our successful track record in the National CCDC and other cyber competitions over the years, it’s an undeniable fact that UCF has the best cyber program, best students, and best coaches in the nation,” said Professor Tom Nedorost, head coach of the team.

The competition’s unique focus on operational aspects of managing and protecting a network infrastructure is designed to assess each student’s depth of understanding and operational competency. The NCCDC is more than just a competitive environment though, as hundreds of volunteers work closely with participating competitors throughout the year to help develop their professional networks and provide mentorship.

Through these competitions, students gain skills and real-world experiences that make them highly attractive to potential employers.

It was this specific competition that led Harrison Keating to UCF. As a high school student in St. Augustine, Florida, he enjoyed building websites and began looking at the competitions held at the college level. When he realized that UCF had a track record of winning them, he made sure that his campus visit to UCF included a stop at the Hack@UCF cybersecurity club. He enrolled, and landed a spot as an alternate on the team that he now leads as captain.

“The NCCDC is a two-day event,” Keating said. “At the beginning of day two, we were in third in one category and didn’t place in the other three. At that point, victory didn’t seem to be a possibility, Morale was low, but the team did an amazing job to find the silver lining, persevere and figuring out a way to improve in day two. Going from that position to national champions in a day was an incredible testament to the team’s determination.”

Keating and several of the team members will graduate this week in commencement ceremonies at UCF.

“The scenario we developed for this elite group of students is very realistic,” said Dwayne Williams, Director of the NCCDC and associate director at the CIAS. “The primary challenge this year is securing large amounts of personally identifiable information across different industries and states, but also dealing with a company acquisition while being targeted by bad actors. These unique challenges and hands-on experiences help each of these teams prepare for the real-world scenarios they will face after graduation.”

“I looked over all the big-name universities and saw that they didn’t have a good cybersecurity offering or any clubs for their undergraduates,” says Magill, now a 20-year-old honors information technology student and Burnett Honors Scholar. “Then I reached out to UCF and learned about one of the biggest and best cybersecurity clubs and collegiate teams in all the United States. That was the selling point for me.”

Thanks to Magill and 406 of his classmates who are current members, the Collegiate Cyber Defense Club at UCF has been sending teams of students around the world to cash in on tournaments at the expense of some of the leading universities in the United States. The latest list of first-place honors for Hack@UCF — as it is more informally known — includes the 2024 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, 2024 Information Security Talent Search (ISTS) competition hosted by Rochester Institute of Technology; the National Centers for Academic Excellence (NCAE) Cyber Games Southeast Regional, in Tampa; the CAE Virtual Internship and Varied Innovative Demonstrations (VIVID) competition qualifier; and the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (SECCDC).

In all, UCF cybersecurity teams have earned 87 first place awards — including five NCCDC titles — 29 second-place and 25 third-place awards. The competitions, which allow UCF students to sharpen and display their skills before cybersecurity professionals, are hosted by companies from private industry, such as Cyberbit, Google, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Raymond James, and Raytheon and federal agencies, including the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Homeland Security, U.S. Department of Energy, National Security Agency and Air Force.

Although each competition is different, student teams are typically asked to solve real-world cybersecurity challenges, such as networking, system administration, reverse engineering, cryptography, hacking, programming and forensics, in real-time.

“These companies or government agencies are banking on the fact that schools send their best teams of students to these competitions,” says Thomas Nedorost, an associate instructor in the College of Engineering and Computer Science and the club’s faculty advisor since 2013 when it was formed by one student who wanted a chance to compete. “It is a recruiting event for them. They get to see the best students from each of the schools that are invited to participate.”

Expectations Exceeded

In 2013, Jonathan Singer ’13 was a UCF senior information technology student who was intent on making a name for himself when he approached Nedorost about obtaining grant funding. When the conversation quickly turned from trying to earn money to having some fun, the idea to start a cybersecurity club and team at UCF was born. The first club meeting exceeded expectations, attracting 86 students who had a strong interest in cybersecurity.

“Some of the most talented UCF students started to come out of the woodwork,” says

Singer, a cybersecurity consultant for Virginia-based GuidePoint Security. “I thought I was cool because I already had some industry experience, but the students that came to our first meetings were some of the most incredible and brilliant people I’ve ever met in my life.”

From those early meetings, word spread. Students from all disciplines began to take an interest in the club. Competitions expanded the club’s presence internationally. Today, Hack@UCF is a juggernaut, featuring four students who have been drafted to the prestigious U.S. Cyber Team.

Recruiting Vehicle

Not only does Hack@UCF participate in competitions worldwide — exposing members to internships, job opportunities, the chance to travel and scholarship money — it invites experts from major companies to campus to discuss the latest trends in offensive and defensive cybersecurity strategies. The workshops the club conducts on campus, in the community and at high schools are a huge recruiting vehicle to attract top students with strong aptitudes and an interest in cybersecurity to UCF.

“I’ve really enjoyed being with the club — it’s my favorite thing to do at UCF,” says senior Harrison Keating, the team’s captain who first learned of UCF due to the club’s participation in a collegiate cybersecurity competition. “Before I decided on UCF, I got a chance to attend a few club meetings and I was pretty much hooked from there.”

Keating says to sustain a top-rated cyber team requires as much as 20 hours of practice a week, which, for many club members, is compounded by classwork, internships, part-time employment and weekend competitions. It also demands financial support to cover competition registration fees, travel expenses, training materials, uniforms and out-of-state tuition waivers to recruit high-potential students to the team.

Labor Shortages

Companies, including Lockheed Martin, Harris, Northrup Grumman and Raytheon, that routinely hire UCFstudents as cybersecurity engineers and analysts, penetration testers, and developers have made donations in the past to offset those costs. Given the national shortage in cybersecurity talent, it is in the best interest of others to do so as well.

Support for Hack @ UCF helps to groom tomorrow’s workforce and increase the ranks of trained cyber professionals. To get involved, please contact Thomas Bolick, 407-823-0125; Thomas.Bolick@ucf.edu.

In the United States, the cybersecurity workforce boasts more than 1,178,662 jobs — with around 572,392 of them yet to be filled, according to CyberSeek, a project supported by the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), a program of the National Institute of Standards and Technology in the U.S. Department of Commerce.

“Cyberattacks can have serious consequences on just about everything — from the power grid to defense systems to our personal information,” Nedorost says. “It is imperative that organizations — industry and government — and concerned citizens continue to invest in developing new talent and cybersecurity programs at the university level to ensure tomorrow’s professionals have the essential skills to navigate these constantly evolving threats.”

The team won the southeast regional title last weekend at Kennedy Space Center to advance to the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, the “Super Bowl of cyber competitions,” April 25-27 in San Antonio.

“We send the best of our best to this competition,” says UCF Computer Science Professor Tom Nedorost, who coaches the team. “Many companies sign up to host these competitions so that they can pick top talent.”

UCF’s Cybersecurity Team is one of many causes available for donors to support during annual UCF’s celebration on April 11. Contributions help to cover the team’s competition and travel expenses.

The competition features student teams running a fictional company and defending it against a variety of cyber attacks similar to what a real-world company would face — all in a manner similar to the types of simulations corporations run to try to prevent attacks against their systems. Attacks during the competition come from industry professionals who seek out weaknesses and aim to extract personally identifiable information from the student teams’ companies.

The team’s captain, Harrison Keating, a computer science major, enrolled at UCF in order to participate in this competition.

“You have to defend against real attackers in real time to keep the business operational,” Keating says.

UCF students who compete are typically hired directly into mid-level positions as cyber analysts, consultants, penetration testers or vulnerability researchers with base salaries above $115,000 and generous signing/relocation bonuses, Nedorost says. Within two to three years, they move into advanced level positions and earn annual salaries exceeding $200,000.

With its unrivaled record nationally, UCF has won five national championships, most recently in 2021 and 2022, and finished runner-up three times.

In addition to winning first place at the regionals weekend, the UCF team was also recognized for three specialty awards: Best in Business, Best in Service and Best in Defense. The Best in Business award is given to the team that successfully completes the most business injects, or tasks, during the competition. The Best in Service award recognizes the team that finished the competition with the highest percentage of operational time for their network services. And the Best in Defense award is bestowed on the team that experiences the fewest disruptions to their network operations due to the cyberattacks.

According to Cyberseek.org, there are currently 572,392 unfilled cyber jobs in the United States. There are only enough cybersecurity professionals in the United States to fill 72% of the current need. Florida only has enough cybersecurity professionals to fill 74% of the current need.

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition series is the largest and longest-running collegiate-level cyber competition in the U.S. A record number of 38 teams competed in the southeast region this year.

Senior computer science major Matthew McKeever and cyber security and privacy graduate student Jeffrey DiVincent ’23 will help represent the U.S. as two of the 30 members on this year’s team, which will compete worldwide in various cyber competition formats, including capture the flag, red vs. blue and hardware challenges. This is the second time McKeever has made the team.

UCF is one of 15 schools who have members on the U.S. Cyber Team this year. The other universities with recruited team members include Arizona State ����ֱ��, Carnegie Mellon ����ֱ��, George Mason ����ֱ��, Rochester Institute of Technology and Texas A&M ����ֱ��.

Like any elite athlete, the draftees earned recognition for their talents in the same way — by demonstrating their prowess at numerous cybersecurity competitions, from stateside regional contests to competitions on the world stage.

“The Cyber Games play a strategic role in preparing our cybersecurity workforce for a highly dynamic future created by digital innovations such as AI, quantum technologies or biotech,” said U.S. Cyber Games Commissioner Jessica Gulick in a release. “As we enter our third season, the caliber of cyber talent is advancing, enabling our program to evolve from skills-based to helping athletes practice rapid triage, cognitive endurance, situational awareness and teamwork.”

Both McKeever and DiVincent are members of UCF’s Collegiate Cybersecurity Competition (C3) team, and placed first in the U.S. Department of Energy’s CyberForce Competition over the weekend. They are also members of student organization Hack@UCF and students in the Burnett Honors College.

McKeever, who formerly served as a red team vs. blue team specialist, was recruited as a binary exploitation specialist and is charged with uncovering program vulnerabilities and using them to his team’s advantage. He is one of 17 veterans on the U.S. team, and was drafted last year along with two other UCF C3 team members, siblings Caitlin and Cameron Whitehead.

“Meeting and interacting with the various countries at the competition was enlightening, learning their culture and socializing in general, but more importantly, fun,” he says of his experiences last year. “Everyone was extremely talented and respectful, but also competitive. Overall, it was an amazing experience competing internationally. I learned a lot in cybersecurity and met and befriended many talented cybersecurity experts from across the world.”

DiVincent, a first-time member of the U.S. Cyber Team, says he had a feeling he might get selected.

“I had a sneaking suspicion that I was going to be drafted. The coach that interviewed me was at the Raymond James Capture the Flag cybersecurity challenge I did a few weeks back, and she was super excited to see me and even asked for a selfie,” he says. “But when I officially found out, I was in class, learning about AI, when I just started getting flooded with congratulatory messages. It was surreal.”

Though he is new to the national team, DiVincent has already competed on an international level as a member of the UCF C3 team this year.

“The two things I am most excited about are the ability to learn from some of the county’s best young minds and getting to travel around the world. I love learning, and I love seeing the world,” DiVincent says.

C3 team members have a rigorous training regimen, often putting in hours on weeknights and weekends and traveling to competitions on top of their academic responsibilities. Their coach and associate instructor Tom Nedorost says the team is no stranger to good old fashioned hard work and is committed to practicing, learning and challenging themselves to continually improve.

“UCF is recognized as a cybersecurity powerhouse far beyond campus due to our performance record in multiple cyber competitions every year,” Nedorost says. “We compete in more competitions and practice together as a team than other schools. overall, Over the past 12 years, we’ve brought home 80 first place, 24 second place and 23 third place awards to date.”

Also competing in the in-person competition in St. Charles, Illinois, another team of UCF students took fourth place. Each team included six students, many of whom are studying computer science, cyber security and privacy, digital forensics and information technology.

CyberForce addresses the U.S. government’s goal to promote cybersecurity workforce development by helping to build a pipeline of cyber professional candidates to enter the operational technology cybersecurity workforce.

“CyberForce helps our students strengthen the skills and confidence they need to be thoroughly prepared for successful careers after they graduate,” says the team’s faculty advisor and head coach Tom Nedorost.

Proof that the UCF students are prepared to become key players in the industry of cybersecurity, this year’s competitors have interned with such firms as Amazon, IBM, KPMG, Palo Alto Networks, Planate and Texas Instruments, and many are on pace to continue working for them after graduation.

UCF is a powerhouse for cyber defense programs and is designated as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education and a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Research. In 2021, the U.S. National Science Foundation awarded a $2.9 million grant to provide cybersecurity scholarships to undergraduate and graduate students. UCF also houses a Cyber Security and Privacy Research Faculty Cluster Initiative, which examines a breadth of interdisciplinary areas.

The CyberForce Competition is sponsored by the DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) and managed by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). It started in 2016 to provide students with hands-on cybersecurity experience through interactive, energy cyber-focused scenarios.

In an increasingly digitized world, a skilled cybersecurity workforce becomes even more valuable to industry and the U.S. energy sector.

The Collegiate Cyber Defense Club at UCF, known as Hack@UCF, boasts 312 members.

The annual CyberForce Competition uses a hands-on security approach to engage students in emergency scenarios, and challenges students to safeguard the nation’s critical energy sector. This year, the scenario involved students working for a distributed energy resource (DER) management company.

This year’s winning teams consisted of the following students:

Team A  (first place)
Jeffrey DiVincent ’23 (team captain)
Zachary Groome
Matthew McKeever
Caitlin Whitehead
Cameron Whitehead
Caleb Wisley

Team B  (fourth place)
Harrison Keating (team captain)
Milo Gilad
Colton Knight
Noah Magill
Caleb Sjostedt
Andrew Terry

“It’s like basketball and volleyball teams hanging championship banners in the same gym,” says Glenn Martin ’92 ’95MS ’12PhD, who competed on UCF’s computer programming team as a student before joining the coaching staff in 1994. “We want the cybersecurity team to do well because it elevates all of UCF, and I assume they feel the same way about us.”

The founder of UCF’s C3 team, Associate Instructor of Computer Science Tom Nedorost, credits the computer programming team for the setting a winning tone 40 years ago.

“The success of both teams is the best indication of the quality of our undergraduate computer science and information technology programs. Their team set the precedent,” Nederost says. Then he adds a neighborly jab. “But I hung the first banners. They copied us.”

Both teams continued their long streaks of success in 2022. Earlier in the year, two computer programming teams took first and second places among 70 teams at the Southeast Regionals (this marks the 40^th straight year that at least one UCF team has finished third or higher at regionals). In November, UCF placed third in the nation and 26^th in the world among 137 teams at the International Collegiate Programming Competition (ICPC) in Bangladesh.

While the computer programming team competed overseas at ICPC, two of UCF’s cybersecurity teams were taking the top spots at the Department of Energy’s CyberForce Competition in Illinois. Three days earlier, they’d secured first and third places at the Aviation ISAC Student Cyber Challenge. A week later they won another competition in Idaho. The wins are hard to keep track.

“Schools from around the country know when our team walks into a building,” says Nedorost, before adding a note that applies to the C3 and computer programming teams. “We’ve been so successful for so long that people locally tend to become numb to it. They don’t realize the work that goes into continuing this level of success.”

Computer programming stalwart Seba Villalobos finishes a five-hour practice with the satisfied exhaustion of someone who just finished training for a triathlon.

 “We want to win so we can hang another banner. That’s why we push each other.” — Seba Villalobos, UCF Computer Programming Team member

For starters, they put in five hours every Saturday, all year long — with one exception.

“We took Thanksgiving weekend off,” says Martin, a research associate professor at the UCF-based .

Each practice simulates a national or world competition, where teams of three students solve as many real-life problems as they can within the time allotted. They route fire trucks through city streets confused with closed intersections, arrange gate arrivals at a backed-up airport, determine the shortest distances for a series of shipments from various distribution centers.

“The practices prepare them for the mental drain of competition,” Martin says. “They enjoy it enough to put in extra work. If you come to the labs late at night during the week, you’ll find people practicing.”

Everyone from the six-person coaching staff and 27-member team talks about “culture” as the biggest difference-maker. Villalobos is a National Hispanic Scholar who didn’t even like coding until coming to UCF. An Introduction to Computer Programming class sparked a bit of intrigue. Then, while working on an electric longboard in a lab, someone convinced Villalobos to try out for the computer programming team.

“I didn’t quite make the team,” Villalobos says of the tryouts that thinned 100-plus students down to 18 varsity and nine junior varsity competitors. “It drove me to train harder.”

For the next few months, Villalobos practiced more than 40 hours a week. The work paid off when Villalobos was invited to join the JV team before eventually being promoted to varsity.

“I had no idea how talented the other teams were until my first competition,” Villalobos says. “You see these students from MIT, Stanford, Russia and China. It’s a reminder that we can’t slack off. For every moment we aren’t training, other teams are getting better. There’s a saying we use: ‘Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.’ ”

“[The Cybersecurity Team’s] success adds fuel for us to do even better.” — Seba Villalobos, UCF Computer Programming Team member

To be sure, UCF’s computer programming team has both: a deep pool of talented students who have to work to earn spots on a team that’s won bronze at worlds (in 2018) while traveling to Moscow, Portugal and Beijing. The most important props, though, come from their fellow Knights. During halftime of a football game last fall, UCF President Alexander N. Cartwright introduced the team to the home crowd.

“That was super cool,” Villalobos says, before adding, “but that same week the cybersecurity team got a big congratulations on a road sign for finishing first at a national competition. Their success adds fuel for us to do even better.”

Cybersecurity mastermind Cameron Whitehead first became aware of UCF’s national prestige when he saw a picture of the C3 team on a marquee in Times Square. He was 14 at the time. A year earlier he’d developed his own online video game. By the time he came to UCF at the age of 19, he already had a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees. He’s about to complete a third, in digital forensics. His reasons for coming to UCF had to do with those banners in L3Harris and some problems he encountered with his video game.

“I discovered vulnerabilities in my game that fit with the research I’m doing on securing power grids,” he says.

To dive even deeper into the tactical minds of bad guys, Whitehead and his sister, Caitlin, joined the Collegiate Cyber Defense Club (commonly known as Hack@UCF). Their skills stood out enough for Nedorost to pull them onto the national championship C3 team. Since March 2021, they’ve stood on more than 12 podiums around the country.

“They develop the programming, and we find flaws in it. We both make the world better.” — Cameron Whitehead, UCF Cybersecurity Team member

“Wherever UCF goes to compete, it seems like we’re the defending champions,” Cameron says.

On Nov. 2, the Whiteheads and Jeffrey DiVincent won the Aviation ISAC Student Challenge in Orlando. The next morning, they drove to Orlando International Airport for an early morning flight to Illinois, where they’d compete in CyberForce.

“When we went through security, I prayed no one would see my search history from the day before when the competition required us to understand and test airport security systems,” Cameron says.

At the event he didn’t want the competitors from 108 schools to witness anything other than another win for UCF.

“We’ve set a high standard, and we use it get better every year,” he says.

When he’s asked about the computer programming team, he says, “They represent UCF, so I’m proud when they do well. They develop the programming, and we find flaws in it. We both make the world better.”