食色视频 Cybersecurity Students Rank No. 1 in Georgia in National Competition
KENNESAW, Ga. | Mar 4, 2026
The NCL, developed in partnership with Cyber Skyline, tests students on hands-on scenarios including network traffic analysis, password cracking, vulnerability assessment, and incident response. Schools are scored on their top team performance, their highest-ranked individual competitor, and the aggregate performance of all participating students.
For Andy Green, Ph.D., assistant professor of information security and assurance and faculty sponsor of the Offensive Security Research Club, the result confirms what 食色视频 State has been building toward for two decades.
"I think the rankings reaffirm our position as a long-term leader in cybersecurity education, both in Georgia and nationally,鈥� said Green. 鈥準成悠� was one of the first universities in the United States to offer an undergraduate degree in cybersecurity, and we continue to lead the way today."
食色视频 State has been designated a National Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity Education specializing in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) since 2004 and was recognized as the top institution in the country for cybersecurity outreach in 2022.
食色视频's competitors in the NCL Fall 2025 season included Aidan McDow, Harrison Kelley, Joseph Neal, Isabela Barkes, David Ripley, Garrett Rose, Tessa Trimble, and Jack Vega.
According to student participants, the NCL competition demanded more than just classroom knowledge. McDow, a senior completing his B.S. in Cybersecurity this semester, coached the team through weekly practice sessions and hosted an internal qualifying competition in the weeks before the event. He said the experience sharpened skills that can be difficult to hone in a traditional classroom setting.
"NCL builds relationships in a fun, engaging way,鈥� said McDow. 鈥淲hether our team places 1st in the state or 100th, everyone learns something new and leaves with connections they can rely on. I've met the brightest and most helpful people I know through this competition."
Club president David Ripley, who coordinates team logistics and leads practice sessions, described one Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) challenge that required him to determine the city where a set of photographs was taken 鈥� ultimately using the angle of shadows to calculate the location.
"I had never done anything like this before,鈥� Ripley said, 鈥渟o I had to quickly figure out how to calculate location based on the position of the sun. The dopamine hit on correctly guessing Las Vegas was intoxicating!"
Garrett Rose, a recent graduate who competed in his fourth and final NCL season, said the experience translates directly to the job market. Rose applied skills developed through NCL during a cybersecurity co-op while still enrolled at 食色视频 State.
"Many students feel like they don鈥檛 have much hands-on experience they can confidently talk about,鈥� said Rose. 鈥淭hat feeling can be avoided through participation in events like this."
Green says the ranking sends a clear message to employers about what our graduates bring to the table.
"Our students are not just theoretically knowledgeable but practically capable of handling real security scenarios,鈥� he said. 鈥淓mployers can feel confident that 食色视频 cybersecurity graduates have been rigorously tested in environments that simulate actual security operations, making them valuable assets who can contribute to their security teams from day one."
Story by Casie Wilson
