Indiana Tech Cyber Warriors to compete for spot in national finals

Indiana Tech’s cybersecurity team, the Cyber Warriors, placed second during the recent Midwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, held March 18 and 19. With the podium finish, the Cyber Warriors placed in the top 20 collegiate cyber defense teams in the nation, and earned a spot in the National Cyber Defense Competition Wildcard competition. Winners in the Wildcard round will move on to the national finals in the competition.

During the Midwest CCDC, the Cyber Warriors finished behind DePaul University, and ahead of third-place Baldwin Wallace University. The Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition welcomes schools of all sizes around the country, with student teams competing to combat attempted network security breaches and related challenges that test their problem-solving, technical abilities and teamwork at every turn.

The Wildcard round of the CCDC will be held April 6 in a virtual format, while the National finals will be held April 21 through 23 in San Antonio, Texas. In February of this year, the Indiana Tech Cyber Warriors won their eighth straight and 15th overall Indiana Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition title, beating out tough competition from skilled collegiate teams across Indiana, including second-place Vincennes University and third-place Purdue University. The win at the state competition earned them their spot in the Midwest Regional CCDC, which brought together schools from Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri and Wisconsin.

Members of this year’s Cyber Warriors team include Zach King, Marek Grzelak, Osman Yusof, John Rudolph, Bryce Murphy, Nia Iott, Hunter Clements, Myles Nieman and Jeremy MacRoberts. The team is coached by Matt Hansen, an Indiana Tech alum who was a championship-winning Cyber Warrior himself during his time as a Tech student.