The University of Virginia’s cyber defense team on Saturday won the 2025 Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition for the third consecutive year.
The Hoos finished ahead of Pennsylvania State University and Liberty University in the 10-team competition, held Friday and Saturday at the University of Maryland, College Park. UVA qualified for the event by winning a preliminary round in January.
“We defended the network of a small online retailer while handling a variety of business and IT tasks,” said Shreyas Mayya, a third-year computer science major and the team captain. “The big twist of the event was that they gave us an additional network at the start of the second day, forcing us to adapt to suddenly battling attacks on two fronts. This scenario was difficult – a step up from the last round – and I’m proud of the way our team was able to rise to the challenge.”
The team, coached by Emil Baggs, a 2023 computer science graduate and former team captain, has a 12-member roster, but only eight can participate in any given event.
“Our team was in a room with four other teams, so there was a lot of chatter and activity going on all the time,” Mayya said. “We’ve practiced effective communication under pressure as a team and it really showed in that setting.”
Team captain Shreyas Mayya coordinates with team members during the January competition. (Photo by Tom Daly)
“These competitions require each team to demonstrate critical technical skills, such as network defense, system hardening and incident response, but also soft skills such as teamwork, communication and problem-solving under pressure,” said Jack Davidson, a professor of computer science and director of UVA’s cyber defense program. “Their achievement is a testament to the quality of the Department of Computer Science’s cybersecurity program and our students’ hard work and commitment in preparing for these challenging competitions.”
UVA will compete April 25-27 in the national championship, a virtual contest that pits UVA’s team against eight regional winners and the winner of a wild-card round. UVA won national titles in 2018, 2019 and 2020.
“The Mid-Atlantic has some great teams, so winning is not easy at all,” Mayya said. “It’s a testament to the team’s hard work and skill that we’ve been able to win three years in a row now.”
