SPRINGFIELD, Mo., Feb. 23, 2023 — For the first time, Drury University’s Cyber Defense Club won the Missouri state title at the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition – defeating 10-time champion Southeast Missouri State University. Drury’s team will now go on to represent the state of Missouri in the regional competition.
“This win establishes our program as one of the premier cyber security programs in the entire Midwest,” said Shannon McMurtrey, associate professor of Cyber-risk Management. “This win also speaks to the quality of this group of students. They are very hard working, and I am so proud of them.”
The competition took place over eight hours on Feb. 18. Each team worked remotely in their respective labs and were given a network to defend while the competition organizers provided a team of professional hackers to attack that network. While Drury’s team defended against the attacks, they also received normal business requests that a typical IT team would receive, including creating policies, adding users and adding services. Teams were then scored on how well they completed tasks and kept servers running.
“It takes a lot of practice to win a competition like this,” said McMurtrey. “This highlights the strength of a Drury education. With the fusion curriculum, our students receive a diverse and unique education and are being trained in disciplines including more than just computer science. I believe our well-rounded students have definitely given us an edge.”
Not only did Drury’s team take home first place in Missouri, but they also won second place overall for the three states competing that day, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri, making up 17 teams in total.
Drury’s team includes eight students with a variety of majors and minors.
“This year our team is really close-knit,” said Wieder, the team’s captain. “We have a good group of people who have diverse backgrounds and experiences and so we work well as a team. It was cool to see our hard work pay off.”
She says when the team found out they won, the energy in the room was palpable.
“It was awesome,” she says. “Everyone jumped up and gave each other high fives. It was also so cool to beat the 10-time winners and disrupt the usual flow.”
The competition gives students real-world cyber security experience, which is not usually offered until they enter the workforce. It also provides exposure to competition sponsors like the Central Intelligence Agency, Southwest airlines, Walmart, Abbott Laboratories, Scale IA and more.
Drury’s Cyber Defense Club will travel to Chicago during spring break for the regional competition on March 17 and 18.
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Media Contact: Jasmine Cooper, Director of University Communications and Media Relations – (417) 873-7390 or JCooper020@drury.edu.