Newly formed cyber security team amazes judges at international competition

From left: Ryan Pizzo, Joel Camplejohn, Philip Tozier, James Sams, Jacob Cross, and Trevor Mechikoff

Liberty University School of Business boasts one of the top cyber security programs in the world, and it continues to make strides in both its classroom training and student competitions.

The newly formed Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition team (CPTC) traveled to Rochester, N.Y., Jan. 13-15, to compete in CPTC International Competition, which gathered the world’s best cyber students for the ultimate hacking test of talents.

The competition format simulates a hacking scenario in which students apply penetration tactics in order to compromise a company’s client database. Teams are tasked with identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the company’s systems and communicating their findings to the department heads.

Judges and sponsors of the event included IBM Security, Paperclip, Black Hills Information Systems.

In addition to top American programs like Indiana Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and University of Central Florida, the competition also drew teams from Jordan, United Arab Emirates, and Dubai.

While the competition only recognizes the top three finalists, Liberty’s nine-member squad made an impressive appearance by winning the award for Best Inject (where judges evaluate how well competitors communicate their findings). The showing was an accolade on its own, but more impressive is the fact that this was Liberty’s first year to field a CPTC team.

“It definitely blew a lot of us away. A lot of us didn’t expect to do this well right out of the gate,” said junior team captain Joel Camplejohn, a computer science student specializing in cyber security. “There’s a great sense of accomplishment. I’m very proud of the way the team has worked, and it has obviously paid off.”

Liberty has already seen success with its Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition team (CCDC), performing well in the mid-Atlantic region and nationals for several consecutive years. CCDC focuses solely on defending systems from cyber attacks.

The CCDC and CPTC teams regularly train together and are made up of computer science students with specializations in Information Technology, cyber security, or another related concentration.

“It was a weekend pressure cooker of an environment in this competition,” said Benjamin Johnston, a business technologist who traveled with the team to New York. “They pulled together, worked as a team, represented Liberty well, and, most importantly, represented Christ well. … I walked away feeling immensely proud of Joel and the team and everything they were able to accomplish. It was an incredible experience to be a part of and support.”

CPTC coach and Professor of Computer Science Richard Bansley has traveled with the CCDC team and said this unique opportunity presented a volley of challenges, but the students rose to the occasion.

“Since this was the first time we went through this competition cycle, the stuff that we did not know was a lot,” said Bansley, noting that the tournament format, rules, and application varied from previous (CCDC) competitions. “We expect the next cycle to have a lot less unknowns, and they can leverage that for more specific, targeted, and effective training.”

“The true test of the team was its ability to deal with all those unknowns with grace, compassion, and focus, and team spirit,” Bansley added. “If you observed them in action while they dealt with that stress, that’s what you’d see.”

Liberty’s School of Business offers multiple degrees in computer science, with focuses on cyber security, data science, software engineering, and more. The Department of Homeland Security and National Security Agency have designated Liberty University as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education for the B.S. in Information Technology with Data Networking and Security Cognate.