A team from the University of Central Florida won the eighth annual CyberForce Competition hosted by the Department of Energy’s cybersecurity office and Argonne National Laboratory.
The UCF team was the first among 144 university participants to complete a simulated mission that required the assessment of IT vulnerabilities and the development of cyber defenses for a model infrastructure, DOE said Monday.
The competition, which was held on Nov. 4 and 5, centered on a staged electric vehicle manufacturing facility whose recently acquired solar farms and infrastructure became exposed to IT threats.
Two UCF teams secured first and second place, while a group representing Pennsylvania State University won third place. The contestants came from schools across 35 U.S. states and Puerto Rico.
DOE established the CyberForce program to drive IT defense technology projects in accordance with the Biden administration’s skilled talent pool expansion goal.