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Northeast State’s information technology students notched impressive performances at the National Cyber League (NCL) competition held in November.

The cyber security operations (SECOPS) team ranked 270th out of 4,898 schools competing in the fall tournament. The performance placed the Northeast State team known as “The Purple People” in the top five (5) percent of all competing institutions.

“This ranking is a very impressive showing, as the competition is not limited to community colleges,” said Jim Holbrook, assistant professor and chair of the college’s Computer Information Technology department. “The NCL event puts us in competition with all post-secondary institutions, some of which have competitors ranging all the way to a PhD.”

The cyber security competition tests students from postsecondary institutions across the nation. The fall NCL competition took place from November 8 through November 11. Student competitors perform security trials in open-source intelligence, cryptography, password cracking, and log analysis. Individual and team rankings are based on points earned for correct answers, accuracy of answers, and timestamps used to measure when the correct answer was submitted.

Team members Neal Fleck, SECOPS team president, and Austin Castle, team treasurer, recounted how the competition brought out the team’s investigative skills with an attention to detail. The competition included cyber security tests such as multi-tiered encryption layers, hacking, computer forensics, exploitative, and security measures.

A non-traditional student, Castle enrolled in Northeast State to pursue information technology. He aims to earn associate degrees in programming, cyber defense, system information, and networking.

“It was a real eye-opener for me as a cyber defense student,” said Castle. “It gave me a lot of hands-on experience I would have never gotten otherwise.”

The team included fellow students Dawson Miller, Brynn Gallagher, and Cozette Porter. The team divided up tests according to their expertise in computer science sectors. Competitors are on the clock to solve a variety of cyber security problems. The team competed both on campus and remotely from home.

“We try to get everyone together to work here for at least one day,” said Holbrook. “Collective minds work better.”

Fleck began studying information technology while living in California. He moved to Tennessee and discovered the information technology program at Northeast State. He recounted how one cryptography test involved a video of random chairs with flashing dots and dashes on the screen. Competitors realized the flashing was Morse code. Students then decrypted the code message to get the answer.

“There are a lot of little things you have to look for in each question,” said Fleck, who plans to graduate this fall. “It is fun, but it is very challenging.”

Holbrook noted the team’s impressive performance mirrored the Spring 2024 teams’ showings in the competition. Two Northeast State SECOPS teams placed 336th and 368th out of 4,680 teams in the fall 2023 competition, placing the top eight (8) percent of cyber teams in the nation. He said the team planned to compete in the NCL’s 2025 spring semester event.

“This performance demonstrates that last year was not a fluke,” said Holbrook. “Repeatable results are the cornerstone of science and measuring success.”

NCL hosts two competitions every year, once in the spring and once in the fall. Individual and team participants play the games simultaneously during the practice game, individual game, and team game. At the end of each NCL season, student players who participated in the individual game receive a scouting report with their performance breakdown. Teams also receive scouting reports specific to the team’s overall performance during the competition.

Northeast State offers associate degree pathways in the academic programs of cyber defense, networking, programming, and systems administration in addition to transfer-specific degrees. The department also features associate degrees in computer science and information systems through the Tennessee Transfer Pathway options for students pursuing a four-year degree. For more information, visit the Northeast State computer information technology webpage at https://www.northeaststate.edu/academic-affairs/academic-divisions/technologies/computer-science-cyber-defense.html. 

“I am very proud of our students and the progress we’ve made in improving our cyber defense program to make it the best cyber security offering in the region,” said Holbrook. “We will continue our improvement efforts going forward and look forward to participating again in the spring.”