Cracking the code in Japan

UMBC's work in strengthening students' preparedness in cybersecurity defense is proving effective not only on campus, but well beyond. This summer, three UMBC students competed in an international "capture the flag"-style cybersecurity competition in Japan, with one Retriever taking home a victory -- and all three bringing back a greater range of expertise. This opportunity helped UMBC students build global relationships and attain more practical experience in cyber defense.

In August, Kevin Chen '23, computer science, Zachary Amoss '24, computer science, and Leela SaiNadh Gade, M.P.S. '24, cybersecurity, competed in the 2023 Country-to-Country Capture the Flag (C2C-CTF) event at the Hiyoshi Campus of Keio University in Yokohama, Japan. The competition -- which convened in person for the first time this summer since it began in 2020 --brought together 80 students from around the world to team up and complete 25 cybersecurity challenges within 10 hours. Teams were tasked with solving challenges such as identifying hackers in various cyber scenarios or using open-source investigative methods to pinpoint geographic locations of different photographs.

Among the awardees were Chen and his team, which included students from the U.K, China, Japan, and Israel. The team placed fourth overall in C2C-CTF's main challenge and received the Hitachi award, named after one of the event's sponsors. Claiming a victory wasn't the only thing Chen wanted to accomplish at the competition.

"My [goal] was to learn extensively, tackle novel technical obstacles, and engage in international collaboration. I embarked on this journey with the determination for achieving victory, fully aware of the formidable nature of that challenge," he says.

Read more about this in a UMBC News article.