Cybersecurity Club excels at 2022 Blue Hen CTF

The Cecil College Cybersecurity Club went toe to toe with some of the best computer science individuals in the world at the 2022 Blue Hen CTF (Capture The Flag) in October to finish 120th out of 376 teams. This event was hosted by the University of Delaware and held through a virtual portal.

“The competition was a lot more challenging than those we have attended in the past and this team of students did pretty darn well,” said Associate Professor of Computer Science, Dr. James Morgan. “The competitors came from all skill levels from professional cybersecurity experts at Intelligence agencies to high school and grad students.”

The competition was held in a jeopardy-style CTF, that covers topics from crypto and pwn to rev (reverse engineering) and web. The teams consisted of high school students, undergraduate, graduate, mixed, and professional teams with up to four members permitted to compete in separate buckets. Along with teams from the United States, there were teams from Japan, India, England, South Korea, and Canada.

The organizers provided challenges and each team had to come up with the solutions to the challenges. The Cecil College team consisted for four core club members with an additional five members providing support.

The Cecil College team consisted of Evan Balaguer, Zachary J. Johnson, Taylor House, Evan Lapointe, Elijah Orzechowski,Jeffrey McConaha, Zane Romberger, Richard Davies and club president Christel Hayduk.

Cecil’s team scored 1079 points from the 48 challenges. The fewer number of individuals who solve a challenge, the more points awarded.

“Being successful in Cybersecurity is all about networking, the human kind of networking. It is vital as you are always trying to pick up some tips and tricks that someone else has figured out and are willing to show you. In Cybersecurity, no one knows it all,” said Dr. Morgan.

www.cecil.edu