Cybersecurity requires more than understanding the theory behind digital threats. It takes analytical thinking, technical skills, and the ability to solve problems under pressure. Those skills were on display October 3 as 129 teams competed in CyberSEED 2026, an online Capture the Flag (CTF) competition hosted by UConn’s Connecticut Advanced Computing Center (CACC).
The annual competition brought together students from 70 colleges and universities across the country for hands-on challenges in cybersecurity, including cryptography, open-source intelligence, password cracking, digital forensics, network traffic analysis, reverse engineering, and web application security.
Teams earned points by solving technical problems and analyzing potential security vulnerabilities. The competition also included an incident response briefing, giving participants an opportunity to practice communicating technical findings and risks to an audience of stakeholders.
Bits For Everyone from the United States Military Academy took first place, followed by cu_kaazmo from Cedarville University in second and CyberLions from Pennsylvania State University in third. Teams from Purdue University, the University of Central Florida, the SANS Technology Institute, and other institutions also finished among the top 10. View the complete list of winners.
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| Bits for Everyone First Place |
cu_kaazmo Second Place |
CyberLions Third Place |
For participants, the experience offered more than a leaderboard finish. One team from the Rochester Institute of Technology described how the competition helped deepen its understanding of cybersecurity concepts through practical application. The team also highlighted the incident response briefing as an opportunity to strengthen its ability to communicate technical risks and recommendations.
Hosted by CACC and sponsored by Synchrony, with the competition platform provided by Cyber Skyline, CyberSEED connects students with challenging, practical exercises that complement their academic studies. By encouraging participants to apply their knowledge in a competitive setting, the event helps students develop skills relevant to the evolving cybersecurity field.
The 2026 competition continued UConn’s longstanding involvement in cybersecurity education and research, bringing students together to learn, collaborate, and test their abilities against a diverse set of technical challenges.