Cadets and faculty ranked third at the conclusion of the 2016 NSA Codebreaker Challenge, which ran from 10 September to 31 December 2016. The challenge, as stated by the NSA, “…offers college undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to see the kinds of problems NSA faces on a daily basis and then replicate the process NSA uses to devise a solution. Current cyber security students are able to mimic a common problem that NSA addresses regularly and determine if they have what it takes to work at the agency. This year, the scenario will revolve around finding an improvised explosive device (IED) and having the students figure out how to reverse engineer and then disarm the IED. The 2016 scenario differs from previous challenges in that it provides insight into both offensive and defensive missions of the agency.”
USMA placed ahead of NPS (4th), USAFA (127th), AFIT (138th), and USNA (163rd). Challenge rankings are based upon time to complete tasks and total number of participants from a school to complete as many tasks as possible. Cadets Parker, Maixner, and Kim made the greatest contributions in USMA’s ranking for this challenge. LTC Moody, MAJ(P) Bundt, and CPT Sherburne participated as faculty.