The University of Illinois Springfield Cyber League team named the 404 Society placed in the top two percent in The National Cyber League competition held remotely in April.
The annual cybersecurity competition hosted by Cyber Skyline enables students to prepare and test themselves against practical cybersecurity challenges they will likely face in the workforce, such as identifying hackers from forensic data, penetration testing and audit vulnerable websites and recovering ransomware attacks.
The team was made up of UIS computer science students who hailed from different cities across Illinois. "These teammates didn't know each other before the competition, but they came together fully motivated from the start to be a winning team” said Janis Rose, the team’s faculty advisor and
UIS computer science instructor. “I've never seen a team so totally in support of each other. I stood back in awe as they worked through one challenge after another. They competed with intellect, character and heart. I couldn't be prouder."
Team members include Nolan Bogumill from Palos Hills, Brandon Brant from Dwight, Kenneth Stroup from Chicago, Michael Weinberg from Mokena, Connor Alisson from Bloomington, John Scully from Springfield and Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira from Champaign.
The UIS team is ranked in the Cyber Power top ten for the central region of the nation and in top 20 nationally. The team also ranked 10th in the nation among the Center of Academic Excellence schools.
UIS’s computer science program is certified by both the National Security Agency and Department of Homeland Security.