The eighth annual Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition (PCDC), hosted by Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Atlantic in collaboration with the South Carolina Lowcountry Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA), was held recently in a virtual format due to COVID-19.
The goal of PCDC is to energize South Carolina high school and collegiate students to focus on the development of networking and cybersecurity skills through science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). During the competitions, students from each school formed Blue Teams that operated and secured the combined systems of a digital network. The teams were challenged to properly configure/reconfigure an information technology (IT) network, add new services and respond to additional requirements – all while defending against Red Team hackers attempting to disrupt their network.