The Nevada Cyber Club continued to build its national reputation during the spring 2025 semester with another round of impressive results in national cybersecurity competitions. Cybersecurity competitions give club members a chance to sharpen their skills and test them against some of the brightest college students in the country.
NSA Codebreaker Challenge
In January, club members finished third nationally in the NSA Codebreaker Challenge, a virtual competition sponsored by the National Security Agency. Eighteen Cyber Club members participated in the challenge, which ran from Sept. 16, 2024 to Jan. 17, 2025 and involved solving cryptography and cybersecurity puzzles to test participants’ skills in encryption, decoding and problem-solving.
“Codebreaker Challenge is NSA’s major cyber event for students every year, with over 5,000 participants and over 400 academic institutions,” Matthew Myers, NSA’s academic liaison to the 推荐杏吧原创, said. “Finishing in the top 1 percent is absolutely worth celebrating!”
Collegiate Penetration Testing Global Finals
Six members of the Nevada Cyber Club also earned a trip to the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) Global Finals in Rochester, New York, in January. The CPTC competition is a two-day live competition where teams test a simulated enterprise system for security weaknesses and prepare a professional report with their findings and recommendations for securing the system. The group outscored some of the best cybersecurity clubs in the Western U.S. to earn the right to represent the Western region in the global finals.
While the team did not finish in the top three spots at the global finals, the group was proud to be one of the top eight teams invited to compete.
“This was my first time at CPTC Globals,” team member Jack Donelson said. “While it was definitely more challenging than regionals, it also was a lot more rewarding. There were numerous opportunities to network and make connections and the new challenges made me learn so much more, whether it was learning about AI vishing (voice-based scams), new frameworks or new tools and techniques that I could use. It was a truly rewarding experience that I’m glad I got to experience.”
Team member Kyle Johnson recommended the experience to others interested in cybersecurity.
“CPTC Globals was a wonderful experience that I will remember for my entire life,” he said. “The skill of each of the teams was fantastic and I hope to get the opportunity to compete in the future. Anyone who wishes to test their knowledge against the best of the best across the world, this is the competition.”
Western Region Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition
In March, eight members of the club traveled to Anaheim, California, to compete in the Western Region Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC). The CCDC is a two-day, live attack-defend competition where teams are tasked with protecting their systems from a group of professional penetration testers. The team earned its spot in the live competition by finishing fourth among 27 colleges and universities competing for an invitation.
“This was our second year advancing to regional finals, and we learned a lot from last year,” team member Amber Hankins said. “Regionals always puts us in unexpected situations that test our technical and non-technical skills, but the team did a great job at keeping cool and applying their knowledge. The last two years we’ve ranked fourth in qualifiers, but we learn more each season, so I can’t wait to see how the team does next year.”
National Cyber League
The Spring 2025 semester also saw the club maintain its status as one of the best in the National Cyber League (NCL) competition. The NCL competition is a two-and-a-half day, virtual competition with challenges in nine different security categories.
The club claimed the number three spot in the NCL national power rankings for experienced club students. The national power rankings are based on total participants and individual and team performance. A total of 14 club members participated with Lloyd Gonzales, claiming first place out of 602 people in the individual competition. In the team competition, Team Long Live Zeus, named after the beloved Manzanita Lake swan that died earlier this year, claimed fifth place out of 457 teams.
The club first joined the NCL competition in 2018 and its continued success in NCL has been an excellent tool for introducing students to cybersecurity.
“Through NCL, I've discovered an entire field of study that I never thought I’d be a part of,” NCL participant Kirin Hardinger said. “Before, I couldn’t see myself becoming a professional in cybersecurity, but participating in NCL has provided me the opportunity to try new things, make mistakes and learn. Now, I find myself exploring different areas of cybersecurity, with an interest in the intersection of cybersecurity and artificial intelligence. I’m excited to continue learning
