The eighth annual Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition (PCDC), hosted by Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic in collaboration with the South Carolina Lowcountry Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), was held recently in a virtual format due to COVID-19. 

The goal of PCDC is to energize South Carolina high school and collegiate students to focus on the development of networking and cybersecurity skills through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). During the competitions, students from each school formed Blue Teams that operated and secured the combined systems of a digital network. The teams were challenged to properly configure/reconfigure an information technology (IT) network, add new services and respond to additional requirements – all while defending against Red Team hackers attempting to disrupt their network.

“This is a unique environment for students to be able to test their knowledge in networking and cybersecurity,” said Jeff Sweeney, NIWC Atlantic Information Assurance (IA) & Navy Cybersecurity division head and PCDC director. “They are operating real-life networks to keep a business’ infrastructure secure, all of which was hosted in the cloud.”

The event drew nearly 135 dedicated students who gave up their weekend to compete with the assistance of more than 100 volunteers from NIWC Atlantic, AFCEA and corporate partners who coordinated and facilitated the competition.

High school students from around South Carolina competed in the Saturday competition with Palmetto Scholars Academy from Charleston winning first place. Academic Magnet High School and Porter Gaud High School, both based in Charleston, earned second and third place respectively. The high school competition was open to all schools in the state of South Carolina but only ten teams could qualify to compete. The top three teams from the previous year were invited back, while the remaining seven positions qualified through the state round of the CyberPatriot Competition. Other competing schools included the Charleston area’s The Academy for the Arts, Science and Technology, Hanahan High School, and Wando High School, as well as South Carolina Governor’s School for Sciences and Mathematics in Hartsville, South Aiken High School in Aiken, Spartanburg High School in Spartanburg and the Home School Support Network.

The collegiate competition was then held Sunday and was open to colleges and universities in South Carolina as well as The United States Naval Academy team from Annapolis, Maryland. Three of the ten slots were designated for the top three teams of the previous year. The remaining teams qualified through the Southeast Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

Clemson University took first place, the College of Charleston second and Horry Georgetown Technical College third.  ECPI University, The Citadel, Trident Technical College, Charleston Southern University, United States Naval Academy, and the University of South Carolina also competed in the event.

Also included was the inaugural Southeast Region Collegiate Hack Warz® @ PCDC competition, which was held virtually and included nine teams from multiple states. Teams of three students were challenged to compromise several systems and gain valuable tokens (flags) for points. Horry Georgetown Technical College took first place, the Citadel second and United States Naval Academy third.

The cyber defense competition is part of a growing movement to develop technical skills and interest in the area of networking and cybersecurity in preparation for exciting and critical careers in STEM.

“The big picture is that we’re trying to develop our current and future cybersecurity workforce,” said Sweeney. “There’s a great need for people in this field and it’s important to get more of our young people involved.”

According to Sweeney, NIWC Atlantic and its industry partners have made job offers on the spot at previous competitions to star performers, setting the college students up with potential careers serving as civilian employees with the Department of the Navy or as contractors supporting the organization’s work. Many of those past competitors who accepted positions with NIWC Atlantic now also support the PCDC competition and encourage new talent to consider working in support of the Navy’s mission. Due to this year’s virtual format, direct hiring was not a possibility but student resumes were collected and distributed to hiring officials across the command with many now considering job offers to these highly desirable applicants.

“This is the eighth year of PCDC and it has been fulfilling to see the pipeline of students who have participated in the competition who are then hired by either us at NIWC Atlantic, many of which are now on our PCDC staff, or one of our local business partners,” Sweeney said.

Department of Defense and corporate teams also had a chance to compete in PCDC’s Pro Day on Monday with embedded college students on their teams. This event is considered an important annual training opportunity for industry professionals and draws friendly competition between government and industry colleagues.

For more information visit www.niwcatlantic.navy.mil.

As a part of Naval Information Warfare Systems Command, NIWC Atlantic provides systems engineering and acquisition to deliver information warfare capabilities to the naval, joint and national warfighter through the acquisition, development, integration, production, test, deployment, and sustainment of interoperable command, control, communications, computer, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, cyber and information technology capabilities.