A team of Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) students secured third place at the National Cyber Security Agency’s “Capture the Flag” competition. Held as part of the 12th National Cyber Drill, the event pitted the students against 11 other teams in a high-intensity, five-hour challenge.
The 10-person squad included students from both Computer Science and Information Systems. During the competition, the team self-select tasks based on their strengths. The competition demanded a wide range of skills, including defensive capabilities like protecting a network, offensive capabilities like simulating a cyber attack, and a general understanding of the policies and regulations for managing security.
Faculty mentor Manoranjan Mohanty, assistant teaching professor of Information Systems, noted how competitions complement the students’ theoretical knowledge: “Competitions like these are helpful because they expose students to real world-problems and help them analyze and apply their knowledge in a practical way.” Ryan Riley, associate area head of computer science, was also a faculty mentor.
The participating students were Jannah Abdelaliem, Yousef Abu Dayeh, Huda Al-Sulaiti, Abdulrahman Al-Taweel, George Chkhaidze, Diyorbek Ibragimov, Ravin Kumar, Sangyoon Lim, Belard Rutayisire, and Khadija Warraich.
