• April 27, 2023

    WSU’s CyberCougs Student Team Prevailed at Regional Competition

    A team of five Washington State University computer science students earned gold in the Spokane Mayor’s Cup, a regional cybersecurity competition that aims to foster emerging cybersecurity talent to meet the growing demands of a developing technological landscape.

    The third annual event invited regional high school and college students to participate in a “capture the flag” style competition, requiring participants to collect ‘flags’ of short phrases or lines of code. Industry professionals coached students over roadblocks and provided advice throughout the event.

    The team has been learning about cybersecurity through their involvement in the Northwest Virtual Institute for Cybersecurity Education and Research (CySER) and WSU’s Cyber Security Group (CSG), a student club.

    CySER is a Department of Defense funded program that trains ROTC and defense-aligned civilians to enter the cybersecurity workforce, and is a partnership between WSU, Montana State University, University of Idaho, Columbia Basin College, and Central Washington University. The CySER Institute supports students in cybersecurity research and professional development through competitions, research projects, seminars, and hands-on summer workshops.

    Team CyberCougs plans to participate in national cybersecurity competitions within the next year while continuing involvement in CySER and CSG. The organizations are anticipated to grow as WSU launches its new cybersecurity degree program in fall of 2023, a response to the nation’s need for cybersecurity-educated computer science professionals.