Each semester, Anderson University Cybersecurity majors have ranked consistently high as individuals and teams in Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions, organized by the National Cyber League.
Approximately 8,500 students competed in the Fall 2024 competition.
Anderson University Center for Cybersecurity’s team is currently ranked number 17 out of approximately 550 colleges and universities in the nation—the fourth semester in a row for the AU team to be ranked in the Top 20.
There were 38 Anderson University students in NCL Individual Game. Five AU students placed in the top 75—against a total of 4,584 students:
31 – Graham Edwards (GCracker)
50 – Camden Sloan (goPH!$H)
55 – Aaron McCurry (at0m1c)
60 – Joshua Cordeiro (Herohunter@AU)
70 – Seth Taylor (cloverblack44)
Outstanding individual competitors were Ben Mullikin, Josh Karpus, Jaimee Sanders, Nate Dorrity, Michael Pavel, Charlie Paddock, Branson Bailey, Joshua Stephens, Noah Perricelli, Meredith Frick, Nicholas Fowler, Caleb Boyter, Brycen Morrison, Thomas Cain, Mason Kellam, Kyle Beauregard, Jack McCotter, Dylan Wyatt, Chris Taylor, Adelaine Wornom, Jadyn Koenes, Cynthia “Lucy” Ray, Ethan Green, Emilyn Amborski, Stephen Davis, Zachary Lee, Christopher Barnard, Liam Simpson, Courtney Blum, Tiago Perez, Ryan Welch, Andrew Blakney and Andrea Deambrosi.
In the NCL Team Game, 12 teams from Anderson University (SC) competed against 1,189 teams.
Placing at number 25 was AU_PH1SH3RSOFM3N and at 52 was ClearlyYouDontOwnAnAirfryer.
Additional impressive efforts were also made by NCL: Singleplayer Edition@AU (Top 13%), AUth.log@AU (Top 18%), AU_Cyber_Hobbits (Top 20%), DockingSSHip@Port22 (Top 20%), and Error404:TeamNotFound (Top 20%)!
Anderson University Center for Cybersecurity teams:
- AU_PH1SH3RSOFM3N: Camden Sloan, Aaron McCurry, Zachary Lee, Charlie Paddock, Kyle Beauregard, Noah Perricelli and Joshua Cordeiro.
- ClearlyYouDontOwnAnAirfryer: Nicholas Fowler, Joshua Karpus and Nathan Dorrity.
- NCL: Singleplayer Edition@AU: David “Graham” Edwards.
- AUth.log@AU: Branson Bailey, Brycen Morrison, Jack McCotter and Ryan Shiley.
- AU_Cyber_Hobbits: Mason Kellam, Seth Taylor, Courtney Blum, Meredith Frick, Ethan Green, Spencer Brunson and Grayson Williams.
- DockingSSHip@Port22: Jaimee Sanders, Cynthia “Lucy” Ray, Caleb Boyter, Thomas Cain, Ben Mullikin and Adelaine Wornom.
- Error404:TeamNotFound: Michael Pavel, Dylan Wyatt, Chris Taylor and Tiago Perez.
Impressive team efforts were also made by Patrick Dodds, Matthew McLaughlin, Seth Dykens, Christopher Barnard, Stephen Davis, Joshua Stephens, Emilyn Amborski, Jadyn Koenes and Andrea Deambrosi.
Cybersecurity Professor and Competition Coach Brandon Grech shared how the AU students continue to increase their own Individual and Team performance.
“This semester continues to show how our students improve each semester on their way towards graduation and the workforce,” Grech said. “If you compare Spring 2024 results against Fall 2024, you will see so many students increase their overall score and rankings. Multiple students jumped from in the Top 350 (Spring 2024) to the Top 75 (Fall 2024). Also, AU_PH1SH3RSOFM3N increased their overall challenge completion from 92.4 percent last semester to 97.5 percent this semester.”
Grech also shared that there are so many individual and team accomplishments that students will be able to show employers on their resume. He commented, “During the Fall 2024 NCL Individual Game, Camden Sloan was ranked number one in the country in the Cryptography section. Camden was the first student to complete all 17 cryptography tasks with 100 percent accuracy.”
AU Cybersecurity students are already gearing up for Spring 2025 competitions.
“Many of our students have already identified areas where they want to continue to improve over the Christmas Break and in the Spring semester. We are preparing new practice sessions to continue to advance our students’ skills in this ever-changing field,” Grech said. “We are very blessed here with these wonderful students and an optimal learning environment.”