Cybersecurity students, faculty and alumni from the University of North Georgia (UNG) finished eighth out of more than 570 colleges and universities in the 2024 National Security Agency (NSA) Codebreaker Challenge, which wrapped up Jan. 17.

This was UNG's seventh year in a row earning a top-eight NSA Codebreaker Challenge finish, a year after coming in second place. Fellow University System of Georgia school Georgia Tech won the 2024 event.

"This was the toughest NSA Codebreaker in the 12-year history of the competition. The scenario was a foreign adversary has broken into a defense contractor's secure systems by stealing a hardware token, and from there they've compromised some critical military hardware. The team's job was to recover files left behind by the attackers, reverse-engineer their malware and find a way to infiltrate the enemy systems," Dr. Bryson Payne, professor of cybersecurity and director of the Institute for Cyber Operations, said. "This year's challenge required deep skill in programming, forensics, networking, file systems, breaking AI/ChatGPT-like systems, cryptography, and much more. We're proud that Georgia has two schools in the top 10 for the seventh year in a row in the Codebreaker. It was a fight to the very end against some tough competition."

UNG also had the third-most participants nationally with 247, with 223 of those competitors being students, and totaled 5,594 points. It was one of two senior military colleges in the top 10, as Texas A&M took sixth place.

Sawyer Shepherd, a junior from Marietta, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, serves as president of the CyberHawks student club. He said he is constantly impressed by the participation UNG has in the challenge, which provides substantial growth opportunities.

"You learn a lot about your technology and how to problem-solve," Shepherd said. "I've always loved learning how things work, breaking things and putting them back together."

UNG's standout performance in the NSA Codebreaker Challenge fits with UNG's strategic big bet for the university to "Get in the National Security Game," which is outlined in President Michael Shannon's white paper "Bold Forward: Running into Our Calling."  

Stewart Cates, a junior from Rome, Georgia, pursuing a degree in cybersecurity, enrolled at UNG because of the strength of the cyber program as evidenced in previous national competitions and the resources of the Institute for Cyber Operations. The challenge was encouraging for him.

"It proved to me that the things I'm learning in my classes and through certifications are not going to waste," Cates said. "I'm able to use them right here, right now."

James Goble is a Rome, Georgia, resident and dual-enrollment student who plans to be at UNG in the fall pursuing a degree in cybersecurity. Like Shepherd and Cates, some of his first exposure to cyber was in CyberStart America, a competition in which UNG leads the Georgia efforts to encourage high school students to participate. Taking part in the challenge was another level of difficulty for Goble.

"It was really fun. It was definitely one of the most challenging things I've done," Goble said. "I learned a lot."