Eleven Students from Radford University, coached by Dr. Prem Uppuluri, make up the local team for the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

In the competition the students are given a simulated hospital network that they must secure from outside attacks performed by experts in computer security. The experience was built to simulate real attacks that professionals in network security face.

The competition was broken into 3 levels. The first was a qualifying round which was held in one of Radford University's computer labs. Along with 6 other schools, students were given 3 hours to complete various tasks including business injects and securing the network. Radford tied for first with JMU which moved them into the regional bracket.

The regional competition was held on March 16th and 17th, and consisted of 8 schools: Capitol College, Howard Community College, James Madison University, Millersville University, Towson University, University of Maryland – Baltimore County, West Virginia University, and Radford University. Radford tied for 3rd place with JMU in the regional round as well.

Team Captain Andrew Rush had this to say, “We had been told the day before the competition started that first year schools always get dominated, but I believe we surprised people with how well we did. The competition for the top three spots was neck and neck both days and thanks to the amazing individuals on our team, Radford was able to hold their own among schools that have been to regionals upwards of 6 times previously...One thing that made Radford stand out was our interaction as a team. We had numerous complements on our ability to work well together under a very stressful situation.”

The team had numerous oppurtunities from the competition to make connections and share resumes with potential employers. Many of the team members look forward to next years competition.

A team from The Department of Information Technology is currently participating in the National Cyber League competition's pilot program which is a 5 week, 5 round, cyber defense exercise. Each week they announce the winners. The current standings can be found at nationcyberleague.org. Radford has placed 4th best in a pool of 25 schools.

Radford is competing in this event as preparation for next years CCDC. The team has a few students from the CCDC team and a few from the team that will compete next year.