Schools

Cal Poly Cyber Defense Team Headed to National Competition

The team narrowly defeated UC Berkeley during a regional contest to qualify for the national competition.

Cal Poly Pomona's cyber defense team is headed to a national competition later this month in Texas after narrowly beating UC Berkely during a regional contest.

The win against UC Berkeley during a spring break competition gives Cal Poly's eight-member team its fifth consecutive regional title, according to a news release.

More than 100 students competed this year in the Western Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, including USC and neighboring Mt. San Antonio College. The three-day competition had teams working to protect computer networks from cyberattacks, according to officials.

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Cal Poly's team included business administration, science, and engineering students.  The National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition will feature 10 teams, including the noted University of Washington squad.

“There is a true camaraderie among team members that, when coupled with their diverse skill sets, makes the team very competitive,” said Assistant Computer Information Systems Professor Ron Pike, who coaches the Cal Poly Pomona team. “I am proud of the strong performance the team put together and thrilled that we will now have the opportunity to move to the national competition.”

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Howard Schmidt, who formerly served as President Obama's cybersecurity czar and is co-founder of Ridge Schmidt Cyber, gave the keynote address.  Niall Browne, chief security officer and vice president at Workday, also interacted with competitors.


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