A team from Rochester Institute of Technology is moving on to the national championship of a competition designed to mold the cybersecurity experts of tomorrow.
RIT took home first place in the Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, sponsored by Raytheon Intelligence and Space, a business of Raytheon Technologies, which specializes in defense and cybersecurity.
Raytheon’s Julian Zottl says cybersecurity continues to evolve and during the competition, students had to ward off attacks on their networks from a team of industry experts.
"Kids have to defend it against real attackers, and they are some of the industry’s best in this competition. So the kids definitely get a workout,” he said.
Zottl added many of the students in previous competitions have gone on to work for Raytheon.
"There’s a very large cyber talent gap, in fact. It’s not unusual for us to be searching for months for talent these days,” he said.
With a regional championship secured, the RIT students will put their cybersecurity skills to the test in the national championships in April.
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