The Southern New Hampshire University CyberSNHUpers wrapped up another strong year competing in the 2016 National Cyber League individual and team games, with team SNHU PENmen scoring ninth in the post-season team competition.
SNHU Cyber League team members gain technical expertise and confidence in 2016 competitions
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Cyber League, an online cyber security competition, attracts students from universities across the country, including Penn State, University of Illinois and Excelsior College. Students work both individually and in smaller teams to solve real-world problems under intense time and technical constraints. Through these challenges, students learn and improve skills related to cyber threats, ethical hacking and security breaches — skills that prepare them for high-growth careers in cyber security. For the CyberSNHUpers, last year was noteworthy for another reason: 30 percent of SNHU’s players were female — a sharp contrast to the current job market, where only 11 percent of cyber security professionals are women, according to the National Cyber Security Institute.
What’s more, the No. 9 ranked team in the nation was led by a female team captain, SNHU online student Briana Beyerl.
Preparing for Battle The CyberSNHUpers compete individually in the preseason and regular season games during the fall and again in December’s post-season as part of four smaller teams: SNHU PENmen, Hacks You A Question, Snow Crash and The Puzzle Solvers. However, before the fall season begins, the CyberSNHUpers spend the entire summer participating in an NCL training program and attending weekly webinars. For Hacks You A Question team member Stephanie Ferreira, practice was key this year — but players had to be prepared for anything during competition.
“The more preparation you do before competition, the better prepared you will be, but there are no promises,” said Ferreira, who’s earning her online MS in IT with a concentration in Data Analytics. “It’s kind of like taking survival classes and