UW team wins Cyber Defense Competition

After two years of not placing, a University of Washington team took home the first-place trophy from this year's National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition.

"We all jumped and yelled," said team captain Alexei Czeskis of the team's reaction to the win. "We were a little bit shocked."

The national competition took place last weekend in San Antonio, Texas. The UW competed against eight other teams from around the country during the 17 hours of competition. Each group acted as a new IT department hired by a fake pharmaceutical company, Kwikepills, and attempted to fend off cyber attacks from professionals while maintaining company services.

The UW team won the regional competition, the Pacific Rim Regional Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition, in March. It was the fourth year UW won regionals, and the third time the team battled for the national title.

Barbara Endicott-Popovsky, a research associate professor at the UW who founded the regional competition, said she was "flabbergasted" when she heard the news.

"My husband thought someone died or something," she said. "I could hardly breathe."

Endicott-Popovsky said she intends to continue and expand the regional competition, eventually having smaller competitions to feed into the Pacific Rim regionals.

Many of the UW team members are graduating or going on to earn master's degrees, but there will be some returning members to next year's team. Czeskis and Karl Koscher, both fourth-year doctoral students and team founders, are designing a practical security class for UW students using lessons they've learned from the competitions. If they finalize the class, it will begin during the 2011-12 school year.

Brittney Wong: 206-464-3195 or bwong@seattletimes.com