Bridgewater State University image
CyberTrust Massachusetts hosts regular, realistic “Capture the Flag” (CTF) cyber range competitions designed for public colleges, municipalities, and regional Security Operations Centers (SOCs).These events typically challenge student teams to investigate mock corporate digital infrastructures, trace cyber attacks, and present executive briefings to non-technical audiences.
The CyberTrust CTF scenarios mirror real-world attacks. They heavily evaluate incident response, alert analysis, and crisis management skills. More than a dozen Consortium Schools participated recently, including Bridgewater State University, MassBay Community College, Salem State University, and Springfield Technical Community College.
In the most recent CTF competition it was the Bridgewater State team, which happened to be all female, that took top honors. Among the four-member team was FHS-alumni, Emily Reilly.
According to a University website posting, the four are among the first to earn degrees in cybersecurity and digital forensics at the college and had many opportunities to bond during their studies.
“This shows, especially with us being the first batch of graduates, that they have built a very strong program,” Emily said.
The women also gave credit to individual professors for the strong preparation they received.
