Snead State Community College’s first cyber team competed in its first competition, the Cyber Cup Capture the Flag (CTF) Challenge sponsored by Deloitte LLC in Huntsville.

Students Gabriel and Benjamin Anstandig, both of Arab, represented Snead State at the 2018 Cyber Cup Capture the Flag (CTF) Challenge in June. Both are enrolled in Snead’s Cybersecurity program. The team placed fourth among 12 teams in the competition.

“We are excited to have had the opportunity to participate in the competition. It was a fantastic opportunity for us to get a glimpse of the industry we’re preparing to enter,” said Gabe Anstandig.

The Cyber Cup Challenge is designed to help sharpen cybersecurity skills and provide hands-on learning and networking opportunities for students in the field of Cybersecurity. The competition challenges offer a unique learning and training opportunity in a fun, competitive environment.  Challenges include password cracking, stenography, reverse engineering code, and attacking Web page vulnerabilities.

 “It is exciting to see our students compete with two-year and four-year colleges from around the country,” said Snead State Instructor Greg Randall, who is the sponsor for Snead’s Cyber Team. “Gabe and Ben have helped Snead make history as being the first national cyber competition team from Snead State. We are very proud of how they represented Snead State at the competition.”

The Cyber Cup is held each year at the Von Braun Center as part of the yearly National Cyber Summit. The National Cyber Summit is the preeminent event for cyber training, education and workforce development aimed at protecting our nation’s infrastructure from the ever-evolving cyber threat. 
 
This opportunity for Gabe and Benjamin to compete was made possible by the Cybercorps Scholarship for Service grant in partnership with the University of Alabama at Huntsville.  

 “Snead’s partnership with UAH has opened doors to exciting careers for our students in the fields of Computer Science and Cybersecurity,” said Randall. “Dr. Tommy Morris, the Director of the Center for Cybersecurity Research and Engineering (CCRE) at UAH, has provided many of our Computer Science students with the means to continue their education with the help of scholarships and funding.  We appreciate the partnership and collaboration with UAH.”