The University of Virginia won the Alamo Cup at the 2019 National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) April 23-25 in Orlando.
The University of Central Florida won second place and the Rochester Institute of Technology won third place.
More than 235 colleges and universities competed at regional competitions and 10 schools competed for the championship. The regional competitions were comprised of multiple stages and a single-elimination round.
The competition aims to encourage more students to pursue cybersecurity careers by introducing them to practical applications of cyber defense skills.
“NCCDC’s systematic, professional approach to this competition, and the use of real-world business scenarios, helps attract the talent that will fill the 3.5 million cyber job vacancies we will see by 2021, according to research published by Cybersecurity Ventures,” John DeSimone, vice president of Cybersecurity and Special Missions at Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services, said.
Teams protected a fictional company from multiple attacks from ethical hackers using the same tactics and techniques as real-world cybercriminals. The University of Virginia’s team protected an agriculture firm.
The competition was sponsored by commercial companies, colleges, and government agencies.
Defense and cybersecurity solutions company Raytheon will bring the winners to Washington, D.C., to visit research and national cybersecurity sites.