From staff reports
Once again, the Technical College of the Lowcountry has made the top 100 “power rankings” in the National Cyber League’s (NCL) “ethical hacking competition” placing 38th out of some 4,000 teams that participated.
Last year, TCL’s team placed 75th in the competition which uses legal hacker techniques to test systems for vulnerabilities.
In addition, this year’s team, named “Bit-R End,” placed 42nd in overall performance. The competition included teams from both community colleges and four-year institutions from across the country.
“This year’s competition was tough, but our students were prepared and up for the challenge,” said Angel Kern, TCL’s Cybersecurity Program Director. “They worked hard and performed well together and under pressure. We are very proud of them.”
The biannual event enables participants to prepare and test themselves against cybersecurity challenges they will likely face in the workforce. Students performed such tasks as identifying hackers from forensic data, running industry tests and audits, recovering from ransomware attacks and other challenges. The rankings measure the students’ abilities to work individually and as a team.
The “Cyber Power Rankings” is a published list of the top 100 schools within the NCL, according to the league. Making the top 50 is a testament to the quality of TCL’s programs and dedication of the college’s faculty and staff in helping students to prepare for careers in cybersecurity, Kern said.
“It’s been exciting to watch our programs grow and expand and to see our students flourish and go on to work in the field,” she said.
This year’s team included cybersecurity students George Norton V, Walt Gnann, Kenneth Casavant, Robert Gorczyca-Groff, Megan Cottrell, Caleb Newell and Lance Mixson.
