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UMUC’s Cyber Padawans competed against eight teams at the world finals in Miami

Adelphi, Md. — The Cyber Padawans—a team of cybersecurity students, faculty and alumni from the University of Maryland University College (UMUC)—took home second-place honors at the Global CyberLympics in Miami on Oct. 29. The Cyber Padawans won the right to represent North America and compete in the world championship by defeating almost 80 teams in regional competition in September. A team from the Netherlands, called “HACK.ERS” and representing Europe, won the world title, with UMUC finishing ahead of teams from Australia, Brazil, Hungary, Nigeria and Sri Lanka.

The members of the Cyber Padawans (padawan is a Star Wars term and refers to a Jedi apprentice) included students John Arneson, Armando Quintananieves and Matt Matchen; UMUC alumnus Chris Kuehl; and UMUC faculty members Jeff Tjiputra and Robert Murphy.

“The entire UMUC community is extremely proud of what the Cyber Padawans have accomplished,” said Javier Miyares, president of UMUC. “To finish as one of the top two teams in the world is a testament to the team’s effort and skill and to the quality of our cybersecurity program.”

At the competition, the Cyber Padawans took part in a six-hour Capture the Flag-style (CTF) tournament. The CTF format is designed as a head-to-head challenge for both cyber offensive and defensive players. The game works as a “capture then defends” scenario in which participants compete against each other to be the first to gain, and then retain control of one or more centrally available targets. To make it to the world finals, the Cyber Padawans took part in three previous competitions based on Forensics, Penetration Testing and Computer Network Defense.

“As the team leader, I want to thank and congratulate our amazing group of students, alumni and faculty members for helping the Cyber Padawans win the North American competition and finish an impressive second at the world CyberLympic finals,” said Jeff Tjiputra, UMUC collegiate associate professor and academic director of cybersecurity. “This dedicated group stayed focused through intense rounds of competition among some of the brightest minds in the world, and we couldn’t be more thrilled with our finish.”

The Global CyberLympics is a not-for-profit initiative of the EC-Council Foundation supported by the Geneva-based International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Its goal is to raise awareness towards increased education and ethics in information security through a series of cyber competitions that encompass forensics, ethical hacking and defence. The mission statement of the Global CyberLympics is “Unifying Global Cyber Defence through the Games.” For more information, please visit .