On March 28-29, 2025, 30 students from the PA Community College Consortium Cooperative Agreement (PC4A) competed in a Jeopardy-style Capture the Flag competition, hosted through Hack the Box.
“Team Tux,” comprised of five students from Montgomery County Community College, won first place, capturing 13/14 flags. Second and third place went to teams from Westmoreland County Community College and another team from Montgomery County Community College.
The CTF covered a variety of topics, including forensics and hardware, and consisted of 10 challenges ranging in difficulty. Students were tasked with using their cybersecurity skills to locate answers, or flags, by exploring computer systems, performing internet research, and searching through source code, among other tactics.
David Siegfried, captain of the winning team, said, “The PC4A CTF was a wonderful experience! I think every student who participated in this, not just Montco students, found the event to be challenging and rewarding. As the captain of Team Tux, I couldn’t be more proud of my team and our collective efforts. The event certainly sparked a healthy sense of both competition and camaraderie across all the colleges.”
Waleed Farag, program director of PC4A, said, “It was wonderful to see partner students come together for some friendly competition. Collaboration is a huge part of PC4A, and we are very proud of how successful our first event was in fostering teamwork. If funding is available, we hope to hold another CTF competition next year.” To learn more about this event and others provided by PC4A, visit PC4A.
PC4A, a consortium of six Pennsylvania community colleges led by IUP and funded by DoDSTEM, has a goal of strengthening the cybersecurity workforce by supporting students in obtaining certifications, increasing transfer rates to four-year institutions, and increasing interest in DoD/DIB employment. Visit PC4A for complete details.
Participants: Team Tux: David Siegfried, Gargi Donde, Joel Fledderjohann, Nasteho Abdi, Alec Fledderjohann. Team WCCC-WP-MS: Michael Swab, Bryson Edwards, Shane Watson. Team WindowsXP11: Matthew Holland, Mitch Meed, Darius Brown.