Academy cyber competition team takes 1st at NYU event

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U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. --  The Air Force Academy's cyber competition team placed first out of 331 undergraduate teams from the U.S. and Canada in the New York Polytechnic Cyber Security Awareness Week Capture the Flag competition held Sept. 28-30, NYU Poly announced Oct. 10.

The Academy's team placed eighth among all teams worldwide, including teams of graduate students and industry professionals.

The Academy team was the only team to solve all 32 challenges presented at the competition, said Col. David Gibson, permanent professor and head of the Academy's Computer Science department.

The Air Force Academy team consists of Cadets 1st Class Nathan Hart (team captain), Frank Adkins, Josh Christman, Luke Jones and Mike Winstead; Cadets 2nd Class Sam Kiekhaefer, Chase King, Keane Lucas, Chad Speer and Ryan Zacher; and Cadets 3rd Class Erick Bonick, Zach Madison, Evan Richter and Clay West.

Teams from the U.S. Military Academy and U.S. Naval Academy placed 14th and 41st, respectively, Gibson said.

The NYU Poly Capture the Flag competition is a challenge-based competition centered around solving technical security challenges to find flags and submit them for points. The competition consists of challenges in categories from all areas of computer security.

"This country is facing a critical shortage of cybersecurity professionals. Events like Cyber Security Awareness Week are a valuable tool for nurturing talent and building one of the most important workforces of the future," said Nasir Memon, founder of Cyber Security Awareness Week and director of NYU Poly's cyber security program, in a statement from the university Oct. 10.