Showcasing Elite Cyber Talent from Universities Nationwide
Rome, NY – October 29, 2024 – The VICEROY Initiative proudly announces the results of the 2024 VICEROY National Cyber Competition: Spectral Cloak, a high-stakes cybersecurity competition that rallied teams comprised of 175 students from universities nationwide.
The competition engages students to tackle real-world cybersecurity and electromagnetic spectrum challenges. This year’s mission involved infiltrating and eliminating enemy surveillance on a vital peace-keeping convoy. Participants showcased advanced cyber operations skills and teamwork, reinforcing VICEROY’s dedication to developing future cyber defense leaders.
This year’s overall competition winners are from Washington State University, whose approach and solution to the complex cyber defense challenge set the standard for adaptive threat response.
The Top 3 teams are:
- Cyber Cougs 1 – Washington State University (Overall Winner)
- Voidstep – Texas A&M University
- ret2rev – Texas A&M University
Featuring challenges like manipulating AI-driven drone feeds, radar evasion, and strategic data rewrites, the event proved to be an immersive experience for all involved. The VICEROY Spectral Cloak Support Team—comprising cybersecurity experts and AI strategists from the Air Force Research Laboratory and Blue Edge —provided real-time guidance to the participants as they navigated the intense and complex scenarios of the challenge.
“VICEROY’s National Cyber Competitions, such as Spectral Cloak, underscore the value of planning, briefing, executing, and debriefing to optimize team impact and improve the mission success rate,” said Chester “CJ” Maciag, VICEROY National Director and lead of Cyber-Spectrum Academic Outreach at the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. “In these competitions, students exhibit combat capabilities, notably the composition of their individual skills, teamwork, leadership, and time-critical execution within a high-functioning team.”
This experience equips students with essential problem-solving and strategic skills for success in VICEROY’s MAVEN and ENVOY internships. VICEROY aims to enhance the talent pipeline of mission-ready leaders in cybersecurity and spectrum management; competitions and internships play a pivotal role in their development. As students transition from competitions to these internships, they will engage in immersive projects reflecting real-world defense scenarios, preparing them to contribute effectively to the Department of Defense workforce.
On the significance of the VICEROY methodology, Mr. Maciag reflected, “Honing these highly-sought attributes is critical to the success of combatant commands in their ever-increasing mission to defend U.S. interests in and through cyberspace.”
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About VICEROY
The Virtual Institutes for Cyber and Electromagnetic Spectrum Research and Employ (VICEROY) Initiative collaborates with academia to create a skilled workforce ready to tackle next-generation challenges in cybersecurity and defense technologies.
Funding for VICEROY is provided by The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering in collaboration with the Air Force Research Laboratory and is facilitated through the Griffiss Institute. VICEROY is authorized under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 Section 1640, “Program to Establish Cyber Institutes at Institutions of Higher Learning.”