Academy cyber team takes 4th place in international contest

Cadets 1st Class Frank Adkins and Michael Winstead (foreground) search for vulnerabilities on opposing teams' virtual servers during the RWTH 2012 Capture the Flag competition. The Air Force Academy's Cyber Competition Team took fourth place overall and first place among U.S. teams in the 12-hour contest. RWTH is a technology research university in Aachen, Germany. (U.S. Air Force photo/Dr. Martin Carlisle)

Academy cyber team takes 4th in international contest

Published Dec. 3, 2012
By Dr. Martin Carlisle
Air Force Academy Computer Science Department

U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- The Air Force Academy's Cyber Competition Team took fourth place overall and top place among U.S. teams in the RWTH Capture the Flag competition Nov. 30.

Each team received an identical virtual machine running numerous services, which they had to defend while using vulnerabilities in those services to capture stored flags on opposing teams' servers during the 12-hour contest.

The Academy team took first place in the defense category.

Competing for the Academy team were Cadets 1st Class Nathan Hart, Frank Adkins, Josh Christman, Luke Jones and Mike Winstead; Cadets 2nd Class Sam Kiekhaefer, Chase King, Keane Lucas, Chad Speer and Ryan Zacher; and Cadets 3rd Class Kevin Cooper, Ryan Good, Zach Madison, Will Parks and Evan Richter.

Editor's Note: Dr. Martin Carlisle is the Cyber Competition Team coach.