MAGIC is pleased to report that the sixth Capture the Flag (CTF 006) Cybersecurity Competition held on Saturday November 3, 2018 was a success and established several new milestones for the event. For the first time ever, this event brought together students from around the world to compete! Almost 150 students competed across 11 different locations including two international locations, Paide High School in Paide, Estonia, and Saint Dominic School in Quito, Ecuador. The main arena was located at the Community Media Center in Westminster, MD, and other host sites included Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, Fayetteville State University in Fayetteville, NC, the Frederick County Public Library- C. Burr Artz Public Library in Frederick, MD, the Harford County Library- Bel Air Branch in Bel Air, MD, St. Mary’s County Library- Lexington Park Library in Lexington Park, MD, Ting Internet- Sandpoint in Sandpoint, ID, the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in Greensboro, NC, and the Washington County Free Library, in Hagerstown, MD.
The first place team, the Carroll Dream Team, included Ben Marlatt and Tyler Smith, students at Carroll Community College and Justin Doan, a student at the University of Maryland University College. They played at the Community Media Center in Westminster, MD.
The second place team, FCCCyber, included Jakob Denlinger, James Hayes, Patrick Stalnaker, and Brian Vegh, all students at Frederick Community College. They played at the Frederick County Public Library- C. Burr Artz Public Library in Frederick, MD.
The third place team, UMUC, included Paul Chilcote, Julian Pacheco, and Marvin Williams, all students at the University of Maryland University College. They played at the Community Media Center in Westminster, MD.
This event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors, partners and volunteers. MAGIC’s sixth CTF sponsors include: Carroll Community College, Carroll Hospital Center, Carroll County Chamber of Commerce, CTC Technology and Energy, Barnes Bollinger Insurance Services, Ting, Yesdi, and the City of Westminster. The Carroll Technology Council, the Carroll County Public Library, and System Source are also key partners in helping to make this event possible. Several MAGIC CTF sponsors and partners were on location in Westminster, MD. At each of the other 10 participating locations there were cybersecurity and IT professionals working as volunteer coaches.
MAGIC is working to close the gap of needed cybersecurity professionals by increasing students’ interest in cybersecurity and by connecting communities with an interest in preparing their workforce for future careers in technology and cybersecurity. Four previous CTF participants, Sam Koyfman, Chris Windsor, Jonathan Woodward, and Joshua Woodward, were responsible for preparing cybersecurity puzzles for the competition, creating a new event scoreboard, and overseeing the event’s AWS platform. The role of these high school and college students in MAGIC’s 6th CTF is another important milestone as MAGIC continues to nurture local technology talent.
MAGIC’s next event for students is the annual Carroll County Hackathon on February 22-24, 2019. This years hackathon will be hosted by McDaniel College. For additional information please visit https://magicinc.org/.
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MAGIC (the Mid-Atlantic Gigabit Innovation Collaboratory) is a non-profit organization headquartered in Westminster, MD. MAGIC’s mission is to build a tech ecosystem that creates and nurtures talent, entrepreneurship, and tech businesses, elevating the Westminster gigabit community to lead the Mid-Atlantic region. The City of Westminster provides key financial support to MAGIC. For additional information about MAGIC, contact Amy Rupp, 443-759-0480, arupp@magicinc.org. Learn more about MAGIC at https://magicinc.org/.
