Cyber Fusion 2025
Feb. 21-22, 2025; Invitation-only event
Virginia Military Institute will host the 8th annual Commonwealth Cyber Fusion and Virginia Cyber Cup Competition, a state-wide collegiate cyber security competition in Lexington, Va., from Feb. 21 to 22, 2025.
The annual invitation-only event, organized by VMI’s Center for Leadership and Ethics, and co-sponsored by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) and Virginia Cyber Range, is open to Virginia colleges and universities that are designated National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense.
Activities will include a keynote address by Don Mills, a principal architect for Cisco’s Security and Trust Organization, where he protects more than 1,800 apps in Cisco's CX portfolio. He also participates in Cisco's Senior Technical Talent group, which acts as an internal advisory body.
The competition will include several challenges, including a capture-the-flag-style Virginia Cyber Cup competition for four-year and two-year colleges.
There will also be a job fair with representatives from several companies. New this year is a Tech Duel cyber debate competition.
If you’re interested in being a sponsor at Cyber Fusion, contact VMI’s Kim Connolly at connollykv@vmi.edu.
About Speaker Don Mills
Don Mills has been interested in computers since he received his first at age 8. He became so inspired by the 1983 film Wargames that he focused much of his time studying information security.
Mills’ early career in state government included being the lead security/network architect for the Virginia Department of Social Services and creating and leading the Commonwealth's incident response program under the Virginia IT Agency.
His work in the private sector included providing security expertise to several multi-billion dollar companies. He transitioned to the resale/consultancy market, where he served as vice president and chief information security officer for traditional data centers, as well as for boutique cloud and DevOps consultancies.