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Links Department of Mathematics Department of Computer and Information Sciences The School of Emerging Technologies
Welcome I have been the coach of the Towson University Cyber Security team since 2006. The team meets and practices regularly.
We organize our activities via our club Discord. Email me (from your Towson email account) for an invitation!
Past Events
- CCDC Team Tryouts 2021November 2021 club meeting as students practice and tryout for spots on the CCDC team.
A great afternoon of hacking. - Team members listening to the intoductory briefing for the Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition
Anxiously learning what is to come in the 2021 CPTC. Note the doughnuts. - Club Meeting 2021October 2021 club meeting with visitor Matthew Kelley talking about PHP exploitation, and Nick Zajciw from HackerOne providing food and swag.
PHP exploitation! - Our last face-to-face event.....
Here is the Towson CPTC team getting ready for day 2 of the CPTC at Penn State. -
Here is the team hard at work trying to qualify for the 2019 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition - Club Meeting 2018This is the first meeting of the club in September 2018
Learning how to use Kali to pop that first shell. And doughnuts. - Case Studies 2018Each year, an external red team comes in to provide an adversary for the case studies students. They have a tradition where they hang up a pirate flag in the nearby classroom during the exercise. Well, my 2018 students decided that they needed their own flag.
Cybersecurity students demonstrating their artistry and spelling. - Another great third place finish!
The team in the pit. The 2017 MACCDC Team awaiting their post-game nachos. - Case Studies 2016My 2016 Case Studies students celebrating the end of the final class exercise!
Guess what happened to the balloons after class! - Another great third place finish!
The team in the competition pit at the APL. - Club Meeting 2015This is the first meeting of the club in Fall 2015
Lots of talent here! - Cyber Maryland 2015Here is the team getting ready for the finals of the Cyber Maryland competition at the Baltimore Convention Center.
The team demonstrating that there is no team more chill and cool.... - Case Studies 2015My 2015 Case Studies students decided to dress up for the final class exercise!
Who were the team's strongest members? - The team did great in the competition, finishing third. Unfortunately, their coach does not know how to take good pictures. Here is a shot of the team at the post-game nachos!
Definitely need more nachos. - 2014 CSAW Capture the FlagThis year, 1,174 student and professional teams from across the world competed in a three-day capture the flag exercise. We fielded one team: Matthew Carr, Yevgeniy Cole, Jimmy Crumpler, Branden Ehrnenreich, John Feehley, Aaron Guillen, Felix Guerrero, Kurt Karolenko, Matthew Mickel, Matthew Verrette. (Go! Go! Pwnzilla), Finished 400th of 1,174.
Hackers always smile when the coach provides doughnuts! - 2014 Maryland Cyber ChallengeThe second round actually overlapped with the CSAW Capture the flag, and some students participated in both events
Excitement is high before the start of the event! - Some 59 teams from across the country participated in the capture the flag competition which ran for 24 hours straight. We had three different teams participate in the competition. Team APT Won't Let Me Be: Matt Carr, Genya Cole, Branden Ehrenreich, Cate Hammond and Logan Bair finished 13th. Team Pwner Jam'z 98: Ryan Backof and Nick Berdard finished: 33rd. Team Big Brother: Matthew Verrette and John Feehley finished 44th.
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The national championship is held in San Antonio over three days, and is only open to teams that won one of the regional competitions.
- Team: Emily Jay, Felix Guerrero, John Feehley, Justin Mavunkal, Kurt Karolenko, Matt Mickel, Matt Spriesterbach, Matt Verrette. Finish: 6th.
They did what? I don't believe it! The Towson team at nationals 
Emily and John getting things started right Kurt and two of the Matts working hard - Some 30 teams participated in a two stage event- a qualifying round, then the finals, a two-day round with eight schools.
- Team: Emily Jay, Felix Guerrero, John Feehley, Justin Mavunkal, Kurt Karolenko, Matt Mickel, Matt Spriesterbach, Matt Verrette. Finish: 1st.
The team in the pit. The 2014 MACCDC Team. - 2013 iCTFMore than 100 teams across the world participated in the 2013 International Capture the Flag Competition. This is our first year with a team:
- Matt Mickel, Jesse Roland, Derrin Ruschell, Ryan Backhof, Emily Jay, David Bitner, Rohan Vazarkar, Justin Mankuval, Kurt Karolenko, Logan Bair, and Donnie Propst; Team Venimus Vidimus Pwnimus finished 70th of 122 teams.
You can see that they are leet hackers; note the combination of Google and doughnuts. PiP. - Many Towson students participated in either the pre-season, regular season, and/or post-season. Our finals team: Matt Carr, Yevgeniy Cole, Michael Covington, Carlton Dunkle, Kajari Ghosh, Robert Horner, John Feehley, Donald Propst, and Derrin Ruschell (DutchFightClub) led the Bronze Bracket for the National Championship, and finished eighth overall.
- The college division featured three rounds; the first and second rounds were held online, with the finals live at the Baltimore Convention Center. We fielded three teams:
- Matthew Mickel, James Grove, Kurt Karolenko, Logan Bair, Rohan Vazarkar, Dustin Hanks, (Venimus Vidimus Pwnimus)
- Matthew Spriesterbach, Justin Mavunkal, John Feehley, Ryan Backof, Kevin Hoganson, Jesse Roland (My Little Pwny)
- Matthew Carr, Yevgeniy Cole, Carlton Dunkle, Luke Moorman, Derrin Ruschell, Michael Covington (Something Clever)
Something Clever in round 1 My Little Pwny in round 1 Venimus Vidimus Pwnimus working hard. You can tell by the football game. 
Venimus Vidimus Pwnimus at the finals, with team captain Matt Mickel demonstrating proper use of the bolt of authority Something Clever at the finals, wearing their game faces The action during the final round - 2013 CSAW Capture the FlagThis year, 1,387 student and professional teams from across the world competed in a three-day capture the flag exercise. We fielded one team: John Feehly, Dustin Hanks, Kurt Karolonko, Matt Mickel, Rohan Vazarkar (Venimus Vidimus Pwnimus); they finished 72nd of 349 teams eligible for the undergraduate competition.
The final scoreboard for the team -
Some 66 teams from across the country participated in the capture the flag competition which ran for 24 hours straight. We had three different teams participate in the competition:
- Team: David Bitner, Emily Jay, Matthew Mickel, Rohan Vazarkar (SomethingClever), Finish: 4th.
- Team: John Feehly, James Grove, Justin Mavunkal, Matthew Spreisterbach (TU Crew), Finish: 26th.
- Team: Ryan Backof, Matthew Carr, Ben Lawrence (The Infinite Improbability Drives), Finish: 33rd.
Team: Something Clever Team: TU Crew - Some 28 schools participated in the competition. Out team of David Bitner, Cameron Ero, Johnathan Fragale, Greg Kuruc, Cory Householder, Kurt Karolenko, Mark Olsen, and Rayvorn Patterson finished 11th in the qualifying round.
- 2012 National Cyber LeagueNationally, 264 students participated, including three Towson students: Dustin Hanks (Finish: 35th), Robert Dayton (Finish: 53rd), and Kurt Karolenko (Finish: 87th).
- 2012 Maryland Cyber ChallengeWe had two teams: Towson Ice: Mark Olsen, Dennis Hayden, Dustin Hanks, Johnathan Fragale, Alex Hornberger and Towson Fire: Cameron Ero, Cory Householder, Derrick Oigagbe, Greg Kuruc, Rayvorn Patterson, Jonathan Earley.
- 2012 MITRE STEM Capture the Flag. Some 57 teams from across the country participated in a two-day competition. Towson fielded two teams:
- Team: Johnathan Fragale, Mark Olsen, Dennis Hayden, Vince Schumaker (Hakuna Matata), Finish: 7th.
- Team: Thomas Cain, Tom Firoozmand
Department Chair Chao Lu showing University President Maravene Loeschke Mark Olsen's efforts to reverse engineer a binary and capture a flag -
The national championship is held in San Antonio over three days, and is only open to teams that won one of the regional competitions.
- Team: Brian Cather, Shane Collison, Johnathan Fragale, Dennis Hayden, Alex Hornberger, Andrea Mobley, Roberto Melendez, Mark Olsen. Finish: 5th.
The Towson team at the 2012 NCCDC In the competition room at the 2012 NCCDC 
Brian, Dennis, and Shane working on a problem at the 2012 NCCDC Team captain Andrea Mobley asking the team about the status of an inject at the 2012 NCCDC -
Some 25 teams participated in a two stage event- a qualifying round, then the finals, a two-day round with eight schools.
- Team: Brian Cather, Shane Collison, Johnathan Fragale, Dennis Hayden, Alex Hornberger, Ray Lynch, Andrea Mobley, Mark Olsen. Finish: 1st.
The 2012 MACCDC Team, just after the end of the competition -
This competition featured two qualifying rounds before the finals, which were held at the Baltimore Convention Center. As the winning team, the students received $5,000 scholarships.
- Team: Brian Cather, Johnathan Fragale, Dustin Hanks, Dennis Hayden, Roberto Melendez, Andrea Mobley. Finish: 1st.
The Towson 2011 MDC3 Team The Towson 2011 MDC3 Team in competition - The Towson team was Brian Haar, Bryan Arloff, Bryan Krause, Cheng Lu, Robert Murphy, Roman Galeone, Steven Ouellette, and Yinchuan Song
- 2010 CSC CYB3R BATTL3GROUND CompetitionFive schools gathered at CSC's site in Chantilly, VA. Each of the five participating teams received a donation of five laptops from CSC for their participation. The Towson team was Bryan Arloff, Christopher Galeone, Brian Haar, Cheng Lu, Victor Mawia, Robert Murphy, Steven Ouellette, and Yinchuan Song. Finish: 1st.
- Second 2010 National Virtual InvitationalEight teams (Cal Poly Pomona, CSU San Bernardino, Towson University, S. Illinois University, Moraine Valley, University of Washington Tacoma, Whatcom College, and a Mystery Team) participated in an informal virtual afternoon of hacking. Team: Shane Lester, Roman Galeone, Adam Stadler, Andrea Mobley, Bryan Arloff, Bryan Krause, Cheng Lu, Derrick Oigiagbe, Ed Fields, Emanueal Rivera, Eric Thomas, Felix Mercando, Joel Detwiler, Matt Sennett, Mohammad Ali Sistani, Mouhamadou Seye, Nnanna Ekedebe, Pape Cisse, Robert Murphy, Roberto Melendez, Rohan Vazarkar, Steven Ouellette, Victor Mawia, Warren Chappell, and Yinchuan Song.
- First 2010 National Virtual InvitationalParticipating schools included CSU San Bernadino, Southern Illinois University, Cal Poly Pomona, CCBC, Towson University, Morraine Valley Community College, and DeVry. Team: Bryan Arloff, Roman Galeone, Shane Lester, Cheng Lu, Victor Mawia, Robert Murphy, Steve Ouellette, and Rohan Vazarkar.
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The national championship is held in San Antonio over three days, and is only open to teams that won one of the regional competitions.
- Team: Brian Haar, Shane Lester, Felix A. Mercado, Brian Namovicz, Madeline Pelkey, Finn Ramsland, Brian Sizemore, John Wiseman. Finish: 4th.
The Towson team at the 2010 NCCDC In the competition room at the 2010 NCCDC 
Finn Ramsland handling a problem The team, hard at work! - Some 15 schools participated in the competition. Five teams, including Towson made it to the finals, which were held at the SAIC Conference Center in Columbia. Team: Brian Haar, Shane Lester, Felix A. Mercado, Brian Namovicz, Madeline Pelkey, Finn Ramsland, Brian Sizemore, and John Wiseman. Finish: 1st.
- Some eight schools participated in the competition; the first round was held in Lancaster and the finals in Baltimore. Team: Jeffrey Miller, Brian Namovicz, Adam Price, Doug Reed, and Kevin Tchen.
- Nine schools particpated in two rounds of competition in Lancaster. Team: Tufail Ahmed, Scott Swedo, Kevin Tchen, and Allen Wilan. Finish: 5th.
