This year, our CyberLions-A team placed 5th out of 93 teams at the U.S. Department of Energy’s CyberForce® Program — up against some of the strongest collegiate cybersecurity programs in the country.
An Oil Rig, a Live Red Team, and a Month of Prep #
CyberForce is a month-long competition that culminates in an intense, in-person scenario. This year’s theme was an offshore oil rig with a Modbus OT network we had to keep running while a live red team actively tried to take it down — on top of general cyber defense, system configuration, and a “green team” throwing realistic end-user requests at us throughout.
I worked the SIEM seat, which meant living in the logs for the duration of the event — watching for attacker behavior in real time, documenting it, and helping guide our defensive calls as things unfolded live.
The Team #
CyberLions-A: Aidan Ethier (captain), Owen Dransfield, Asa Reynolds, Haidyn DiPaolo, Glen Ankney, and me. Our CyberLions-B team also improved significantly, jumping to 16th overall from 24th the year before.
Thanks to Nicklaus Giacobe and Matt Ruff for coaching both teams through it — coordinating two six-person squads through a national competition is no small task on the advisor side either.