Cardinal code its way to the crown

Stanford University claims top honors in national collegiate championship

May 18, 2023

Stanford University secured its first victory in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, a contest that simulates cyberattacks and tests students’ ability to defend their networks.

Why it matters:

Cyberattacks are costly. The FBI reported that cybercrimes cost victims more than $10.3 billion in 2022, making the need for more cyber professionals crucial to defense infrastructures.

NCCDC, sponsored by Raytheon Technologies, is the nation’s largest competition of its kind, giving college students across the country a chance to test their cybersecurity skills. The competition offers realistic, hands-on experience to prepare them for careers in the field.

Background:

The 2023 competition was the 18th in the organization's history. More than 1,500 competitors from 178 collegiate teams across the U.S. competed regionally for a chance to advance to the nationals. The 10 teams chosen for the final competition had to protect the network infrastructure of a fictitious medical facility in Colorado that recently acquired two clinics.

Historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, Asian and Native American Pacific Islander-serving institutions, tribal colleges and universities were eligible to apply for a $1,000 scholarship to cover regional registration fees, travel costs, and resources or materials needed for competition training. Five universities received this year’s scholarship.

More than three dozen Raytheon Intelligence & Space employees volunteered to work with competitors and organizers – securing networks, mentoring students, scoring the contest and hacking systems. They worked on different teams:

White team: Operated as team judges, checked the rules and scored the events.
Orange team: Worked as customers and employees needing support with problems like passwords, orders, tickets and VPN access.
Red team: Infiltrated networks, created secret "back-door" entry points and fake user accounts, turned off services and stole data.

What they're saying:

Student experiences

“The ingredients to our secret sauce to winning was a mixture of eight months of hard work, dangerous weapons we deployed, our presenters nailing their presentations and making sure all tasks were completed on time and done well. Our defense team also did a great job explaining how the ’red team’ got into the system to earn back some major points.”

Andea Scott (at left)

Stanford University’s team captain

“A live ‘red team’ is attacking your network and it’s your team’s responsibility to defend it—it’s nothing I’ve ever experienced in a classroom."

Emma Reuter (at left)

University of Texas Austin computer science student

“We spend a lot of time teaching ourselves all about aspects of security, computers and networking. NCCDC gives us the opportunity to apply that knowledge and see what’s practical and what’s not.”

Gabriel Fok (at right)

Cal Poly Pomona computer science student

Volunteer experiences

“One of the things that’s really fulfilling about NCCDC is the opportunity to have structured mentorship and engagement with students for their professional development.”

Dr. Athit Kao

Innovation and Outreach lead, Raytheon Blackbird Technologies

“This is as close as you’re going to get to a real-world experience before entering the workforce. Students compete against some of the top talent across the country, and we send some of our top talent to test out their skills.”

Mario Orsini

Director, Security for Cybersecurity, Intelligence & Services, Raytheon Technologies

“We continue to use NCCDC as a valuable talent pipeline for Raytheon Technologies as the entire competition series allows participants to put their skills to the test, hone their professional presence and expand their network.”

Jon Check

Executive director, Cyber Protection Solutions, Raytheon Technologies

“If you're looking for the best and the brightest across the country, they’re a part of NCCDC. Our mission is to build out the next generation of cyber professionals and help fill that talent pipeline.”

Dwayne Williams

NCCDC director

Bottom line:

By presenting NCCDC, Raytheon Technologies is demonstrating its commitment to nurturing, inspiring and hiring the next generation of cyber defenders.

What’s next:

Stanford’s cyber team will hit the road for a victory tour in Washington D.C, where they will meet with top-level cybersecurity professionals and policymakers from government, military and industry.