FORT MEADE, Md. – For the fourth consecutive year, the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) took first place in the National Security Agency’s annual Codebreaker Challenge (CBC).
Participation in the 2024 contest rose to more than 7,200 students from 576 U.S.-based academic institutions compared to 5,057 participants from 450 schools during the 2023 challenge.
The annual Codebreaker Challenge offers students a closer look at the type of work done at NSA and provides an opportunity to develop skills needed to achieve the Agency’s national security mission including reverse engineering, computer programming, forensics, and vulnerability analysis.
This year’s challenge involved students testing their skills in an attempt to prevent a nation-state advanced persistent threat (APT) from targeting military vehicle software via Defense Industrial Base (DIB) contractors. Students had seven tasks to complete throughout the challenge, which culminated in a short order tasking to remove sensitive data from APT’s servers.
Tasks weighted with a certain number of points and increased in difficulty as students advanced through the tasks. As each student completed a task, that task’s points were awarded to the student’s school.
The second-place winner of this year’s challenge was the SANS Technology Institute in Rockville, Maryland, with 246 participants earning 19,867 points. Runners up included University of Nevada, Reno; UC Santa Cruz; Texas A&M University; and University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Special congratulations go to Bergen County Academies in New Jersey in placing as the first high school in the top 20 participating academic institutions in the country.
Students who solved the challenge received a special CBC medallion and a letter signed by the NSA Director.
According to contest organizers, the CBC has promoted the Agency’s engagement with the U.S. academic community, contributed to strengthening cyber-related education nationwide, and increased student interest in pursuing a career at NSA.