The Missouri State Association for Business Information Technology students (A-BITS) advanced to the regional semifinal round of the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC) where they competed among the top performing schools in the Midwest Region.  

“I am very proud of our students,” said Dr. Xiang Guo, A-BITS faculty advisor and information technology and cybersecurity professor. “This is our first time participating, and to be able to compete with top cybersecurity programs and to stand out is a great achievement. This shows that we have a truly great program in cybersecurity.” 

Placements for the Regional Semifinal are only released for first through third place.  MSU didn’t reach the top three this year, but they plan to work hard and return next year.  

The NCCDC has 10 regions across the nation and each region has a regional semifinal. The winners from regional semifinals will advance to the national championship round. For the Midwest region, there is a qualifier round and also a wild card round to select regional semifinal teams.  

A-BITS made it to the regional semifinal round after placing second in the Midwest Regional Qualifier on Feb. 13 and placing first in the wildcard round on March 6.  

About the competition 

The competition allows students to work as a team to respond to real world environment challenges and secure a real network environment.  

As students worked to secure their network, another team constantly attacked them. The MSU team managed to keep up all six vital services for most of the six-hour competition. 

“Their solid foundation, determination, and motivation lead to their success,” said Dr. Guo. “We have an intensive training class where I work with these hardworking students every week. I am very impressed with the talent we have here.” 

The competition consisted of 20 universities across the states of Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan. 

The Missouri State team is led by cybersecurity graduate student Holden Bridges. Other team members include: 

• Anu Ar Rafi 
• Wayland Cha 
• Michael Green 
• Blake Heckman 
• Caleb Long
• Brayden Shell
• Nathan Sloan
• Nolen Smith
• Michael Talbot
• Benjamin Tallin
• Andy Vu 

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