NDSU students took 22nd place out of more than 950 teams in the Spring 2022 National Cyber League team competition.

The competition allows groups of up to seven students to solve difficult cybersecurity problems. The most recent event was NDSU’s ninth time participating in the team competition. 

In National Cyber League competition, students learn and demonstrate workforce-relevant cybersecurity skills. The competition features problems in 10 areas: open source intelligence, cryptography, cracking passwords, analyzing logs, analyzing network traffic, wireless access, forensics, scanning, exploiting web applications and enumeration/exploitation. All of the areas have a direct correlation to real world jobs that students can pursue after graduation. Students submit solutions and earn points for their team as they work together to solve difficult challenges.

“National Cyber League lets students hone and demonstrate their cybersecurity and problem-solving skills,” said Jeremy Straub, NDSU Cybersecurity Institute director and assistant professor of computer science. “Not only is it a fun and exciting competition for students, it also lets them showcase their skills to employers throughout the country using objective measures.”

Overall, 56 NDSU students participated in the spring National Cyber League competition. The competition had four parts: a training ‘gymnasium,’ practice game, individual game and the team competition. The current semester’s level of participation is NDSU’s largest and makes the university one of the largest participating institutions nationwide.

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