UC Irvine wins Alamo Cup at UTSA’s national cyber defense competition

One of the nation's largest collegiate competitions of its kind, this year's NCCDC tasked competitors with the scenario of managing, operating and defending the network infrastructure of a biotechnology firm while responding to customers and routine business tasks and fending off attacks from hackers.

The UTSA NCCDC Director Dwayne Williams said, "The NCCDC program brings academia, government and industry together in a unique way. Everyone recognizes we need to find and train more cyber professionals, and these competitions are critical in helping meet that need."

"As cyber-attacks become more frequent and targeted, the potential for significant damage increases," added Nightwing's Chief Technology Officer Chris Jones, who gave the closing remarks at this year's competition. "The virtual ramparts, which will need defending, are complex and varied, ranging from our government institutions, to public and private enterprises, to critical infrastructure. In the coming years, the question of how we protect our most vulnerable assets will be answered by those competing in NCCDC and similar competitions."