SEMO Cyber Defense team finishes first in regional competition

The Southeast Missouri State University's Cyber Defense team finished first in the Missouri Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) for the 11th time Feb. 17.

SEMO's win gives the team the ability to go to the 2024 Midwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition Regional. According to the SEMO news release, the purpose of the competition is to see the team's ability "to maintain secure computer network operations."

"Students are scored on their ability to detect and respond to outside threats, including cyber-attacks," the news release stated.

The director of Southeast's Institute for Cybersecurity Mario Alberto Garcia stated in the news release that he was very excited to the team move on in its competition.

"Cyber defense is an ever-growing field that we take pride in teaching at the highest level at Southeast. This group is a great example of students taking their education and applying it to real-life situations," Alberto Garcia stated.

The team's next competition will take place Friday, March 15, to Saturday, March 16, with the winners moving on to the national competition.