DSU wins National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition title

May 7, 2026

Dakota State University students earned first place at the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC), securing the national title after two days of head-to-head cyber defense challenges against top teams from across the country.

DSU finished ahead of the University of Virginia and Western Washington University on the podium, demonstrating sustained performance across technical defense, service continuity, and business response scenarios. In total, 10 teams participated in nationals, representing the winners of regional competitions held across the country.

DSU's national championship team, coached by Jackson Heiberger, instructor in The Beacom College of Computer & Cyber Sciences, included:

• Team Captain Malachi Reynolds (cyber operations; Sioux City, Iowa)
• Diksha Janaki (cyber operations and network security administration; Doha, Qatar)
• William Tilstra (cyber operations; Rogers, Minn.)
• Ihor Makhynia (computer science and cyber operations; Kyiv, Ukraine)
• Sarad Gaihre (computer science; Kathmandu, Nepal)
• Brayden Borges (cyber operations; Sacramento, Calif.)
• Kalen McNab (master's in cyber operations; Brewster, Minn.)
• Lia Schmidt (cyber operations; Estelline, S.D.)

Team alternates included:

• Jon Reel (cyber operations; Sioux Falls, S.D.)
• Ethan Clark (cyber operations and computer science; Groton, S.D.)
• Lane Klarenbeek (cyber operations and computer science; Hudson, S.D.)
• Jacob Radford (cyber operations; Mill Creek, Wash.)

"Winning NCCDC is a crowning achievement for this university's cybersecurity competition resume," said Reynolds. "DSU has put together so many extremely talented teams every year, and to be a part of bringing the trophy home to South Dakota is a blessing unlike any other."

The NCCDC is the nation's premier collegiate cyber defense competition, focused on the operational challenges of securing and maintaining existing network infrastructure under active attack. Teams are evaluated on their ability to detect and respond to threats, maintain critical services, complete real-time business tasks, and balance security decisions with organizational needs.

"The competition does reflect what you might see in the real world of dealing with threat actors that are trying to stay under the radar," said McNab, echoing the thoughts on real-world application shared by other team members. "It puts more of an emphasis on needing to watch for anomalies and strange traffic in your network that you have not seen before which allows you to start threat hunting and finding the threat actors."

Over the course of the competition, DSU students defended a simulated corporate network while responding to evolving cyber threats and completing business "injects" that required communication, prioritization, and decision-making under pressure.

The group prepared for nationals by attending several cybersecurity competitions in the region and the Collegiate Incident Response Competition for Undergraduate Students (CIRCUS) National Finals in Pasadena, California, which they won.

"By the time we had completed all those competitions, we felt like we had really solid team communication, and rode that momentum into nationals," Reynolds said.

"The variety of competitions we did to prepare gave us a diverse taste of the skills necessary," said Schmidt.

The NCCDC model emphasizes real-world readiness by requiring teams to maintain operations while under attack, rather than focusing solely on system design or configuration. Participants must keep services such as email and web servers running, respond to stakeholder requests, and defend against professional-level adversaries.

"This was an incredible opportunity for our students to get practical experience responding to active attacks," said Heiberger. "It's not often that defenders are able to go head-to-head with attackers in such a realistic environment. DSU's continued success at NCCDC, culminating in the national title this year, speaks to the efficacy of our coursework to prepare students for real-world engagements."

This national title reflects DSU's continued leadership in cybersecurity education and its focus on applied, hands-on learning experiences that prepare students to meet complex challenges in the field.

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