Seven GTRI researchers recently secured first and third place wins at the 2024 Southeastern Cyber Cup contest, building on their strong performance the previous year.  

The Southeastern Cyber Cup is a national-level higher education cybersecurity competition hosted by the Georgia Tech Office of Information Technology Cyber Security department in partnership with Deloitte. The contest is open to cybersecurity and IT students and professionals and is intended to generate enthusiasm around cybersecurity careers.

The event features a virtual “Capture the Flag” contest, where competitors are challenged to find “flag,” which are strings of characters hidden within various cybersecurity challenges. These flags are submitted through the competition’s platform to earn points, with more complex challenges awarding higher points. The team with the highest total points at the end of the event wins. Participants were tested on topics such as protecting data, securing websites, identifying security gaps, reverse engineering programs and preventing chatbot misuse.   

GTRI placed first and third in the “expert-level track” of the contest, which featured more advanced problems than the novice level. In 2023, GTRI took home second place. 

Each team in the competition was limited to three members. GTRI entered two independent teams that competed separately during the contest. The GTRI participants were: Zach Comstock, Justin Hsu, Joseph Cannaday, Spencer Brown, Jake Robinson, Garrett Brown and Drew Petry. The first-place team, named “SideChannels,” included Comstock, Brown and Robinson. The team that won third place was called “ClockCycles” and comprised Petry, Hsu and Brown. Cannaday competed independently under the name "DrPepperEnjoyer" in the novice bracket and won first place. 

Hsu, a GTRI senior research scientist who helped organize the event, said the Southeastern Cyber Cup is a fun and engaging way for researchers to sharpen cybersecurity skills that they may not get to practice every day. 

Hsu added that competitions like this one help position GTRI as a leader in cybersecurity, which enhances its ability to attract and retain top talent.   

“GTRI is well-known for its expertise in areas like electronic warfare and radar, but we’re also showing that our capabilities extend beyond those fields,” Hsu said.

Comstock, who was encouraged by a colleague to participate, called CTFs a “pressure cooker for creativity” that push participants outside their comfort zones and expose them to new challenges. Comstock had dabbled informally in CTFs in college, but this was his first formal contest. 

“CTFs push you to think in new ways,” Comstock said. “They force you to explore the blind spots in your understanding. Every challenge is an opportunity to learn something new, not through rote memorization, but through discovery. That’s the kind of learning that sticks with you—it’s not just a new tool in your toolbox; it’s a new lens through which you see and understand the world.”

GTRI's support for the researchers’ participation in this contest highlights its commitment to fostering professional growth, Comstock added. He said the encouragement and resources GTRI provided allowed him to give his full attention to the contest. 

“There’s a high-trust environment here, which gives you the time and space to think deeply, experiment, and deliver work that isn’t just done, but done right,” he said. 

Beyond the Southeastern Cyber Cup, GTRI has participated in several high-profile cybersecurity contests since 2021. Notably, GTRI placed 2nd and won $10,000 in the U.S. Navy's HACKtheMACHINE event in 2021, where participants tested the vulnerabilities of commercial maritime electronics. 

Also in 2021, GTRI finished in the top 4% in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force’s Hack-a-Sat 2 event, focusing on enhancing the security of space systems. In 2022, GTRI continued its success by placing in the top 5% of the Hack-a-Sat 3 competition, reinforcing its commitment to advancing cybersecurity in critical sectors. 

Writer: Anna Akins 
Photos: Sean McNeil 
GTRI Communications
Georgia Tech Research Institute
Atlanta, Georgia

The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is the nonprofit, applied research division of the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech). Founded in 1934 as the engineering Experiment Station, GTRI has grown to more than 3,000 employees, supporting eight laboratories in over 20 locations around the country and performing more than $869 million of problem-solving research annually for government and industry. GTRI's renowned researchers combine science, engineering, economics, policy, and technical expertise to solve complex problems for the U.S. federal government, state, and industry.