Texas A&M took second place in the Sixth National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) in San Antonio in April 2011.
Texas A&M secured its place in the national contest after winning the Southwestern Regional CCDC in March.
Texas A&M team members were Mark Browning (captain), William Chen, Andrew Chin, Nik Johnson, Matthew Mullins, Robert “Red” Schumacher, Kyle Willmon, and Eric Wood. All the team members are from the Department of Computer Science and Computer Engineeringand the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
According to the UTSA Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the winning team from the University of Washington faced strong competition from Texas A&M and the University of Louisville who took second and third in the competition. Nine regional winners — California State Polytechnic University at Pomona, Indiana Tech, Rochester Institute of Technology, Texas A&M University, United States Air Force Academy, University of Louisville, University of Maryland, University of Washington and University of Wyoming — participated in the National CCDC.
The CCDC competitions are similar yet unique to other cyber defense competitions because they focus on protecting the network infrastructure of a fictional business with email, Web sites, data files, and users. The teams are scored on how well they perform in correcting network problems, performing business tasks, and protecting their networks from hostile activity.