CU Cyber, the Clemson University competitive cybersecurity team, won first place at the recent Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition at Trident Technical College in Charleston. Team captain MacKenzie Binns also earned MVP honors as the team took home its third title in four years.
“I was very proud of the team and their performance bouncing back from last year in which many were rookies,” said Dr. Kevin McKenzie, one of the team’s faculty advisors. “Most of the time the general public is never aware that companies face real scenarios like the ones that the teams did every day to deliver the services that we expect. To be successful, this competition requires the team to work as a cohesive unit and to operate under extreme duress of which the Clemson team did very well.”
“This was a true team effort and everyone on this team deserves the win,” said Binns. “Anybody can tell someone what to do, but everyone had the ability to carry out tasks in the face of overwhelming stress and get things done.”
The CU Cyber team poses with its place trophy at the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition. From left to right, front to back: John Hoyt, Spencer Provost, Peter Schatteman, Nick Bulischeck, Mackenzie Binns, Kevin McKenzie, Foster McLane, Tyler Bautista.
Image Credit: Clemson University
CU Cyber bested seven other schools from the state, including the University of South Carolina, College of Charleston and The Citadel. The competition put six-person “Blue Teams” in charge of a fictional medical supply company that recently lost its IT staff, giving players 30 minutes to study the company’s technical infrastructure before “Red Team” hackers began to attack.
Teams earned points by maintaining its network and services (like email and web servers) while responding to threats and keeping business systems operational. Clemson captured two out of the three main categories on its way to victory.