ÌÇÐÄVlog

Welcome!

The increasing number of student competitions reflects the intense and growing need to develop talent and practical skills in cybersecurity. As members of Hood's Cyber Blazers competition team, students learn, train and apply their technical skills,  expertise, knowledge, and ethics to solve problems by competing in local, regional and national cybersecurity competitions.

The Cyber Blazers team meets regularly and practices in our Cybersecurity Lab and online. The team is open to undergraduate and graduate students with an interest in developing high-level defensive and offensive cyber skills. For new members, the team provides hands-on training and tutorials to help teammates learn, review and improve their knowledge and skills on current cybersecurity topics and techniques.

Our team participates in various cybersecurity competitions, though students who join the team are not required to compete.

Focus Areas

• System and Network Forensics
• Linux Operating Systems
• Penetration Testing
• Scripting
• Reverse Engineering/Exploitation
• Cryptography

Team Meetings & Training

Fall and Spring semesters: Mondays from 5:30-6:30 pm in HT 308C (confirm time/day/location with team coach for the current semester)

Competitions

The team participates in several competitions throughout the year, such as:

• National Cyber League ()
• Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory Capture the Flag ()
• Department of Energy CyberForce Competition ()
• Cyber FastTrack ()
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge ()
• Various local, regional, national, and international Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions

Cyber Blazers - Team and Individual Rankings

2024-2025

• Fall National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 844th out of 4894 teams competing (Top 17.25%)
• Spring National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 129th out of 457 teams competing [Experienced Students Bracket] (Top 28.23%)
• picoCTF 2025, ranked 1492nd out of 6533 teams competing (Top 22.84%)
• JerseyCTF V, ranked 86th out of 407 teams competing (Top 21.13%)
• Pointer Overflow CTF 2024, ranked 47th out of 2513 teams competing (Top 1.87%)
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge 2024, ranked 351st out of 572 schools competing (Top 61.36%)
• PatriotCTF 2024, ranked 115th out of 1361 teams competing (Top 8.45%)
• SANS Holiday Hack Challenge 2024, participated

2023-2024

• Spring National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 314th out of 4,199 teams competing (Top 7.48%)
• NCAE-C VIVID Competition 2024, ranked 84th out of 91 teams competing (Top 92.31%)
• picoCTF 2024, ranked 2,718th out of 6,957 teams competing (Top 39.07%)
• JerseyCTF IV, ranked 349th out of 520 teams competing (Top 67.12%)
• Fall National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 209th out of 4,672 teams competing (Top 4.47%)
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge 2023, ranked 187th out of 450 schools competing (Top 41.56%)
• Collegiate Capture the Flag Cyber Event, participated
• SANS Holiday Hack Challenge 2023, participated

2022-2023

• Spring - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 276th out of 3,593 teams competing (Top 7.68%)
• picoCTF 2023
  • Team #1, ranked 2,816th out of 6,842 teams competing (Top 41.16%)
  • Team #2, ranked 3,082nd out of 6,842 teams competing (Top 45.05%)
• DawgCTF 2023, ranked 336th out of 616 teams competing (Top 54.55%)
• angstromCTF 2023, ranked 1,148th out of 1,429 teams competing (Top 80.34%)

2021-2022

• Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 372nd out of 3,926 teams competing (Top 9.48%)
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge 2022, ranked 175th out of 447 schools competing (Top 39.15%)
• Spring - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 388th out of 3,658 teams competing (Top 10.61%)
• Spring - 2022 MAGIC Capture the Flag 12, ranked 50th out of 86 teams competing (Top 58.14%)

2020-2021

• Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 163rd out of 3,910 teams competing (Top 4.17%)
• Spring - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 213th out of 922 teams competing (Top 23.10%)
  • Silver Bracket (overall), ranked 102nd out of 266 teams competing (Top 38.34%)

2019-2020

• Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 98th out of 957 teams competing (Top 10.24%)
  • Silver Bracket (overall), ranked 24th out of 281 teams competing (Top 8.54%)
• Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), Log Analysis Domain,  ranked 6th out of 957 teams competing (Top 0.63%)
  • Silver Bracket (Log Analysis Domain), ranked 1st out of 281 teams competing (Top)
• Spring - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 71st out of 931 teams competing (Top 7.62%)
• Spring - National Cyber League (NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 60th out of 119 teams competing (Top 50. 42%)

2018-2019 

• Fall - National Cyber League(NCL), ranked 31st out of 781 teams competing (Top 3.96%)
• Fall - National Cyber League(NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 31st out of 105 teams competing (Top 29.52%)
• Fall - 2019 MAGIC's Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Competition ranked 10th out of 88 teams competing (Top 11.36% )
• Capture the Flag Competition at FCC,  ranked 4th out of 13 teams competing (Top  30.76%)

2017-2018

• Fall - MAGIC's Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Competition ranked 8th out of 45 teams competing (Top 17.77%)
• Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 53rd out of 368 teams competing (Top: 14.40%)
• Fall - National Cyber League(NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 37th out of 54 teams competing (Top 68.51%)
• Spring - MAGIC's Capture the Flag Cybersecurity Competition ranked 17th out of 40 teams competing (Top 42.50%)
• Spring - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 125th out of 264 teams competing (Top 47.34%)
• Spring - National Cyber League(NCL), Silver Bracket, ranked 54th out of 97 teams competing (Top 55.67%)

Cyber Blazers - Individual Rankings

• Seth Wilson: 2020 Department of Energy's CyberForce Competition, ranked 22nd out of 203 players competing (Top 10.83%)
• Seth Wilson: 2020 Cyber FastTrack (Summer Intake), ranked 155th out of 1,173 players competing (Top 13.21% )
• Michael Hodge: 2020 Cyber FastTrack Competition, ranked 199 out of 3,498 players competing (Top 5.68%)
• Seth Wilson: 2020 Cyber FastTrack Competition, ranked 815 out of 3,498 players competing (Top 23.29%)
• Sanket Lange: 2020 Cyber FastTrack Competition, ranked 1,480 out of 3,498 players competing (Top 42.30%)
• Tristan Beyer: 2018 Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), Gold Bracket, ranked 56th out of 471 players competing (Top 11.88%)
• Tristan Beyer: 2018 Fall - National Cyber League (NCL), ranked 60th out of 3,324 players competing (Top 1.80%%)

Cyber Blazers Team Rosters

• Spring 2025 National Cyber League (NCL):  John Caruthers, Melissa Fowler, Mizuki Jones, Don Ngo, Sarah Setiawan, Eliyah Watson
• picoCTF 2025:  John Caruthers, Melissa Fowler, Don Ngo, Sarah Setiawan, Eliyah Watson
• Pointer Overflow CTF 2024:  John Caruthers, Mizuki Jones
• Fall 2024 National Cyber League (NCL):  John Caruthers, Mizuki Jones
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge 2024:  John Caruthers
• PatriotCTF 2024:  John Caruthers
• SANS Holiday Hack Challenge 2024:  Mizuki Jones, José Alicea Santiago
• JerseyCTF V:  Melissa Fowler
• Faculty hacking at events (Yes! Hood faculty does not "just" teach):
  • Pointer Overflow CTF 2024: Dr. Carol Jim, Dr. Cheng Qian
  • PatriotCTF 2024:  Dr. Carol Jim, Dr. Cheng Qian
  • JerseyCTF V (2024):  Dr. Cheng Qian
• 2023-2024: Khaled Abed, Adedotun Adetona, Abdulrahman Alshehri, Bandar Albukhari, John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula, Nahaprasaath Ganesan, Ann Holt, Jeet Kumar, Dr. Cheng Qian
• Fall 2023 National Cyber League (NCL):  Khaled Abed, Adedotun Adetona, Abdulrahman Alshehri, John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula, Nahaprasaath Ganesan, Ann Holt
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge 2023:  Khaled Abed, John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
• Collegiate Capture the Flag Cyber Event:  Bandar Albukhari
• SANS Holiday Hack Challenge 2023:  John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula
• Spring 2024 National Cyber League (NCL):  Khaled Abed, Bandar Albukhari, Abdulrahman Alshehri, John Caruthers, Ann Holt, Jeet Kumar
• NCAE-C VIVID Competition 2024:  Khaled Abed, John Caruthers
• picoCTF 2024:  Abdulrahman Alshehri, John Caruthers, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
• JerseyCTF IV:  John Caruthers, Dr. Cheng Qian
• 2022-2023: Khaled Abed, Abdulrahman Alshehri, Adedotun Adetona, John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula, Priyanka Chekuri, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
• Spring - 2023 National Cyber League (NCL):  Khaled Abed, Abdulrahman Alshehri, John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula, Priyanka Chekuri, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
• picoCTF 2023
  • Team #1:  Khaled Abed, Bandar Albukhari, Abdulrahman Alshehri, John Caruthers, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
  • Team #2:  Adedotun Adetona, Indra Kiran Chandula, Priyanka Chekuri
• DawgCTF 2023:  Khaled Abed, John Caruthers, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
• angstromCTF 2023:  Khaled Abed, John Caruthers, Nahaprasaath Ganesan
• Fall 2022 National Cyber League (NCL):  John Caruthers, Indra Kiran Chandula, Nahaprasaath Ganesan, Julian Urban, Derek Wyld
• NSA Codebreaker Challenge 2022:  John Caruthers
• 2021-2022: Derek Wyld, Julian Urban, Paige Langmead, Khalid Alatawi, Nasser Alharthi, John Caruthers
  • Spring 2022 National Cyber League (NCL):  Derek Wyld, Julian Urban, Paige Langmead, Khalid Alatawi, Nasser Alharthi
  • Spring 2022 MAGIC Capture the Flag 12:  Julian Urban, John Caruthers, Derek Wyld
• 2020-2021: Seth Wilson, Ahmad Abdulmajeed, Khalid Alatawi, Bryan Matthews, Sanket Lange
  • Spring 2021 National Cyber League (NCL):  Ahmad Abdulmajeed, Bryan Matthews, Reggie Clyburn, Fadi Qazzazee, Mohammed Sabeeh
  • Fall 2021 National Cyber League (NCL):  Fadi Qazzazee, Mohammed Sabeeh, Khalid Alatawi, Gordon Cohen, Julian Urban, Derek Wyld
• 2019-2020: Michael Hodge, Paul Wells, Sneha Soni, Gordon Cohen, Akeem Olanrewaju, Nikhil Kalva, Seth Wilson, Luan Lepi
• 2018-2019: Ivo Tadic, Kamal Rangavajhula, Joseph Lyons, Jeffery Larson, Neha Prasad, Abdullah Alhogbani, Davon Hill, Warren Scott, Tristan Beyer, Berl Lovelace, Luan Lepi, Connor Brown, Rob de Cespedes,  Doug Koster, Brian Patton, Vincent Yu,  Michael Hodge, Alice Gallaugher
• 2017-2018: Ivo Tadic, Kamal Rangavajhula, Jeffery Larson, Davon Hill, Tristan Beyer, Rob de Cespedes,  Vincent Yu,  Michael Hodge

Join Us - Become a Cyber Blazer!

Students interested in joining Cyber Blazers should contact the team coach, Dr. Carol Jim, jim[at]hood.edu