The College’s Cybersecurity Club came in second place at the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition on Sunday, April 15, 2018, at Trident Technical College in North Charleston.
The team placed behind Clemson University, which came in first, and ahead of the University of South Carolina, which placed third. Other universities and colleges that competed at the state-wide event sponsored by SPAWAR include Charleston Southern University, The Citadel, Lander University, Trident Technical College, ECPI University and SC State University.
During the nine hour competition, teams are scored on two defensive challenges: keeping online services up and running, and preventing against injection attacks. The College’s team was No. 1 in keeping their services up and running, but fell just slightly behind Clemson in injection attacks.
Led by computer science professor Xenia Mountrouidou and club president Zach Dayton, the Cybersecurity Club competition team included students Hitarth Patel, John Anderson, Blaine Billings, Phillip Wilson and Nate Smith. Dayton and Anderson tied for most individual points in the competition, and Dayton was chosen as MVP for the whole competition. The club took first place in last year’s competition.
Pictured above from left: Phillip Wilson, Zach Dayton, Hitarth Patel, Professor Xenia Mountrouidou, John Anderson, Blaine Billings, and Nate Smith.