VCU places second in Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition

MACCDC Competition 2019
2019 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC) on March 28-30, 2019.

A student team from VCU placed second in the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC) held at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, on March 28-30, 2019.

The MACCDC, presented by the National CyberWatch Center, is a two-day test of information security skills and endurance for university students. Teams competed in a simulated business environment in which they had to run systems, support ongoing projects, assist users with their devices — and secure all information technology in the face of constant external security threats. Scores were based on the team’s ability to ward off threats while keeping services running as long as possible.

VCU’s competitors were Ian Cooper, Nicholas Copi, Zephyr Headley, Seth Jansen, Erwin Karincic, Jonathan Lundquist, Mohammad Malik, John Naylor, Gabriel Odachowski, Tobias Schneider, Peter Tran and Pillai Yadunandan. These students come from VCU’s departments of Computer Science and Electrical and Computer Engineering as well as the School of Business. All are members of VCU's Cybersecurity Club @ VCU.

“Our team did exceptionally well. We’re the second-ranking team in the entire Mid-Atlantic region, which shows that our program produces results and that our graduates will be able to assist in defending companies from security threats,” said Karincic, a junior computer engineering major who is president of the club. “The Mid-Atlantic is well known as the most competitive region in the country. In fact, for the past three years the winner from this region has gone on to win the national competition.”