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University of North Georgia (´óÏó´«Ã½) cybersecurity students excelled in competitions this spring and in having their research presented at conferences.  

The students took third place overall at the National Cyber Exercise (NCX) hosted by the National Security Agency (NSA) at the Maritime Conference Center near Baltimore, Maryland. ´óÏó´«Ã½ was the top in-person team at the event with the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the U.S. Air Force Academy, the highest finishers, participating remotely.

´óÏó´«Ã½ beat out the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, and the senior military colleges, including Norwich University, Texas A&M University, The Citadel, Virginia Military Institute, and Virginia Tech.

´óÏó´«Ã½'s Elite Team placed second overall in the final Cyber Combat Exercise.  

Cadet Matthew Perrino, a senior from Woodstock, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, was grateful to see the hard work of his group pay off at NCX. It reinforced the need for teamwork in the profession. 

"Leading side by side is the best way to lead in cyber. You can't just tell people what to do," Perrino said. "You have to go in there and help them and work on projects together." 

Paul Kim, a senior from Suwanee, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, also enjoyed the communal aspect of the competition and the way it pushed him out of his comfort zone. 

"Don't prevent yourself from becoming better. People are too scared to fail or break boundaries that they feel confined to," Kim said. "I have realized I could reach out to the Institute for Cyber Operations and others." 

´óÏó´«Ã½’s 21-student roster rotated in and out across three teams in four half-day exercises, capped off by ´óÏó´«Ã½'s NCX Elite Team that finished second in the Cyber Combat Exercise. That Elite Team included Kim, Sawyer Shepherd, Tyler Vaughan, Wolf Helm, and James Booker.  

´óÏó´«Ã½ students also had their research reach wide audiences at major conferences.

Cooper Warrington, a May graduate with a degree in cybersecurity, won the Best Application of Theory Award at the Northeast Decision Sciences Institute, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Tamirat Abegaz, associate professor of computer science, presented Warrington's paper, "A Comparative Analysis of ChatGPT, Bard, Snapchat, Hugging, and Perplexity on Unintentional Biases," on his behalf.

"After being nervous for a whole semester, it felt really good to win the award," Warrington, a Flowery Branch, Georgia, resident, said. "This experience has helped my confidence." 

Abegaz also presented student Douglas Sausser's paper, "Exploring Evasion Attacks & Adversarial Defenses," at the conference.