KSU Cybersecurity Students Rank No. 1 in Georgia in National Competition
KENNESAW, Ga. | Mar 4, 2026
The NCL, developed in partnership with Cyber Skyline, tests students on hands-on scenarios including network traffic analysis, password cracking, vulnerability assessment, and incident response. Schools are scored on their top team performance, their highest-ranked individual competitor, and the aggregate performance of all participating students.
For Andy Green, Ph.D., assistant professor of information security and assurance and faculty sponsor of the Offensive Security Research Club, the result confirms what Kennesaw State has been building toward for two decades.
"I think the rankings reaffirm our position as a long-term leader in cybersecurity education, both in Georgia and nationally,” said Green. “KSU was one of the first universities in the United States to offer an undergraduate degree in cybersecurity, and we continue to lead the way today."
Kennesaw State has been designated a National Center of Excellence in Cybersecurity Education specializing in Cyber Defense (NCAE-CD) since 2004 and was recognized as the top institution in the country for cybersecurity outreach in 2022.
According to student participants, the NCL competition demanded more than just classroom knowledge. Aidan McDow, a senior completing his B.S. in Cybersecurity this semester, coached the team through weekly practice sessions and hosted an internal qualifying competition in the weeks before the event. He said the experience sharpened skills that can be difficult to hone in a traditional classroom setting.
"NCL builds relationships in a fun, engaging way,” said McDow. “Whether our team places 1st in the state or 100th, everyone learns something new and leaves with connections they can rely on. I've met the brightest and most helpful people I know through this competition."
Club president David Ripley, who coordinates team logistics and leads practice sessions, described one Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT) challenge that required him to determine the city where a set of photographs was taken — ultimately using the angle of shadows to calculate the location.
"I had never done anything like this before,” Ripley said, “so I had to quickly figure out how to calculate location based on the position of the sun. The dopamine hit on correctly guessing Las Vegas was intoxicating!"
Garrett Rose, a recent graduate who competed in his fourth and final NCL season, said the experience translates directly to the job market. Rose applied skills developed through NCL during a cybersecurity co-op while still enrolled at Kennesaw State.
"Many students feel like they don’t have much hands-on experience they can confidently talk about,” said Rose. “That feeling can be avoided through participation in events like this."
Green says the ranking sends a clear message to employers about what our graduates bring to the table.
"Our students are not just theoretically knowledgeable but practically capable of handling real security scenarios,” he said. “Employers can feel confident that KSU cybersecurity graduates have been rigorously tested in environments that simulate actual security operations, making them valuable assets who can contribute to their security teams from day one."
Story by Casie Wilson
