Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the Ivy Tech Community College logo on the outside of Ivy Tech Columbus’s new campus building Moravec Hall in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. The building is named after local philanthropist and business owner Tony Moravec.
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Students in the Ivy Tech Community College Columbus Cyber Academy recently earned 7th place in the power rankings of a national collegiate cybersecurity competition.
The students are participating in the National Cyber League (NCL) Spring Season, which runs from Jan. 30 to May 27. The NCL, powered by Cyber Skyline, enables students of two-year and four-year institutions to prepare and test themselves against practical cybersecurity challenges, such as identifying hackers from forensic data, pen testing and auditing vulnerable websites, recovering from ransomware attacks, and more.
NCL hosts two seasons of these challenges every year in the spring and fall. This year, Ivy Tech ranked 7th overall at the national level for Cyber Power Rankings, in addition to ranking 5th in the Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) colleges category.
Ivy Tech Columbus Cyber Academy students are John De la Cruz, Connor Haeck, Breyson Hendren, David London, Casey Love, Ian Nickum, Stephen Ross, and Brandon Stewart. The Ivy Tech team was represented as “TheHackStreetBoys @ Ivy Tech Community College MUTC” in the competition. MUTC refers to Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, where the Cyber Academy is operated.
In addition to the team rankings, team members ranked individually in the National Cyber League Spring season out of 6,273 individual participants as follows: Breyson Hendren, 20th place; Brandon Stewart, 397th; Stephen Ross, 322nd; David London, 518th; John De la Cruz, 700th; Connor Haeck, 830th; and Ian Nickum, 1,246th .
The Cyber Power Rankings were created by Cyber Skyline in partnership with the National Cyber League (NCL). Every year, more than 10,000 students from more than 500 colleges and universities and 100 high schools across the U.S. participate in the NCL competitions. These rankings represent the ability of students from these schools to perform real-world cybersecurity tasks on the Cyber Skyline platform.
The Ivy Tech Columbus Cyber Academy is part of the College’s Accelerated Associate Degree Programs (ASAP), in which students can earn a two-year associate degree in cybersecurity in 11 months. The Cyber Academy is operated at Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, offering students an opportunity to learn at an advanced cyber training facility in a national defense training center. The program is led by Ivy Tech Columbus Assistant Program Chair Joe Bodden.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
