Lighting Up the Leaderboard: UMGC Cyber Team Off to a Fast Start

The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) cybersecurity competition team is off to a blazing start in 2026, earning top placements across multiple World Wide Technology (WWT) cybersecurity events.

On January 22, the team dominated the WWT CrowdStrike capture the flag (CTF), finishing first overall as the only group to solve every challenge-an achievement reflecting the strength of a roster that includes senior Cybersecurity Technology major and U.S. Cyber Games draftee Brandon Wright, Cyber Operations transfer student Brandon Tucker, M.S. Cybersecurity Management & Policy student Brian Mingus, and UMGC cyber alumnus and newly appointed adjunct instructor Joel Francis.

Their momentum continued on February 18 with another first-place finish and the only perfect score in the WWT F5 CTF Beta Test, demonstrating elite skill in application security problem solving. The following day, the team earned second place, again with a perfect score, in WWT's Haystack Hunt for Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), a challenge that tests intrusion-detection and threat-hunting expertise with competitors acting as "blue teams."

"In cybersecurity operations, the blue team serves as a front-line defender, protecting an organization's information systems from threats and cyberattacks," said the team's coach, Collegiate Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Jesse Varsalone. "UMGC cyber team members are honing skills they use immediately in their jobs, and they are among the best."