UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A team of Penn State students recently took second place at the regional finals of the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (MACCDC). The event was held March 22–23 at Prince George’s Community College in Largo, Maryland.

The MACCDC provides the hands-on application of cybersecurity skills to enhance students’ understanding of theory and practice, according to the program’s website. The competition is designed to introduce scenarios that imitate the real world and highlight concerns like security breaches.

“After placing third at last year’s competition, we were ready to take the lessons we learned and pick up where we left off,” said team member Jenna Fox, a third-year student majoring in cybersecurity analytics and operations. “With four returning members and four new members, we were able to draw on past perspectives and new insights to create our gameplan. I am extremely proud of how effectively our team was able to communicate with each other to prioritize critical systems, respond to business memos and react to live breaches to our network.”

Fox is the outgoing president of Penn State’s Competitive Cyber Security Organization (CCSO), a cross-disciplinary student group coordinated through the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) that facilitates an informative environment where members from all educational levels and backgrounds can master safe computing practices. The cyber defense competition team was composed of members of CCSO.

CCSO meets regularly in anticipation of competitions like the MACCDC. The 2024 regional competition pitted Penn State against teams from George Mason, Rutgers, University of Maryland, University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, among others. The University of Virginia took first place and successfully defended its regional championship.

Team member Liam Geyer, a third-year student majoring in cybersecurity analytics and operations, is the incoming president of CCSO.

“I'm extremely happy with our historic second-place performance,” he said. “The team was able to quickly adjust to the new format of this year's competition, communicating effectively and adapting new strategies. We're looking forward to competing in the wildcard round on April 9 for another shot at nationals and will continue to prep for an even better performance next season.”

Jacob Dorchinsky, a third-year student majoring in cybersecurity analytics and operations, served as the team’s defensive captain at the regional competition.

"I am incredibly proud of our team’s achievements so far this year,” he said. “We continue to build on our past successes and have fostered a tradition of constant improvement. Although this season has been our best ever, we are not finished. Competing for the national championship remains our ultimate goal."

Nick Giacobe, associate teaching professor in the College of IST, is the CCSO adviser. Team members from the College of IST include Cy Fisher, Evan Glickman, Brendan McShane and Maguire Younes, all majoring in cybersecurity analytics and operations. The bachelor’s degree program teaches the skills needed to help ensure the safety of critical information and assets. Students learn to protect information from hackers, discover security vulnerabilities and investigate and communicate cyberthreats and attacks.

CCSO teammate Aiden Johnson is majoring in computer science in Penn State’s College of Engineering. The program prepares students for careers as computer scientists, software engineers, software developers and other positions in the field of computing. Students learn to design, develop, evaluate and analyze software solutions to a wide spectrum of computational problems.