In This Story
A team of George Mason University students brought home the first-place trophy from the 9th Annual Commonwealth Cyber Fusion and Virginia Cyber Cup Competition, held February 20–21 at Virginia Military Institute (VMI) in Lexington, Virginia. The statewide, invitation‑only event brought together top cyber programs from institutions designated as National Centers of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense for two days of competition, professional development, and networking. More than 150 students from 19 Virginia colleges and universities participated.
George Mason University’s Mason Competitive Cyber (MCC) team secured first place in the university division, edging out top competitors from the University of Virginia and the College of William & Mary. Their win came down to the final minutes of a four‑hour Jeopardy‑style capture-the-flag (CTF) competition, for which students solved a series of complex cybersecurity challenges across multiple categories. The winning team included undergraduates Amaan Abbas, Dylan Charnick, Kyson Fromm, Noah Hinger, Neil Sharma (Cyber Security Engineering (CYSE) majors) and Cristian Puerto (Information Technology major).
For Dylan Charnick, MCC’s Vice President and the team’s student liaison with Cyber Fusion organizers, this year’s competition carried a different weight. “Last year I was one of the new players and I felt like my main responsibility was to learn as much as I could. This year I was the team leader, which meant I had to guide a lot of new players into their roles. I had a blast working with my teammates, and I feel like we all worked hard to secure the win. We definitely learned a ton, and we’re ready to come back next year!”
Teammate Cristian Puerto agreed. “This was my first time at this event, along with most others on my team, so we came into it willing to learn and to try our best. Our team's balanced skillsets throughout all the categories allowed us to get through almost all the challenges except for a couple. One of my highlights from this weekend was not only winning the competition but having the opportunity to put myself in an environment where everyone shares the same passion for cybersecurity and having conversations with anyone at any experience-level.”
Hosted by VMI’s Center for Leadership and Ethics and co‑sponsored by the Commonwealth Cyber Initiative (CCI) and the Virginia Cyber Range (VACR), the event featured a job fair and industry speakers in addition to the CTF competition. Attending the event with the students was Peggy Brouse, a member of the VACR Executive Board and associate chair in CYSE; and Matthew Jablonski, faculty sponsor for MCC and CYSE assistant professor.
The weekend’s competition extended beyond the CTF. On Friday, the event kicked off with Tech Duels, a team debate challenge in which students were paired across institutions to argue a topic selected by the organizers. For his debate, Neil Sharma, representing George Mason, was partnered with a student from Liberty University to form “Team AI” and tackle the prompt: “AI vs. Zero Trust – What is the best way to protect the nation’s infrastructure?” The duo won their opening debate, which was the first competitive event of the weekend.
“The Tech Duels debate was a lot of fun. I enjoyed working with someone I didn’t know prior to the event,” said Sharma. “Due to my teammate’s prior experience with Tech Duels and our coordination beforehand, we were able to put forth a convincing argument and win the debate. Unlike the CTF component of the competition, I had no prior experience, so it was exciting to try something new.”
Jablonski said, “This was my first time attending Cyber Fusion, I was incredibly impressed with the way CCI and the Virginia Cyber Range organized this event. Our students were challenged, they competed hard, and they were respectful of their peers from other universities throughout the entire weekend. The CYSE Department couldn’t be more proud of MCC and our students for bringing home the Virginia Cyber Cup.”
With support from partners like CCI and faculty mentors across the College of Engineering and Computing, MCC students continue to demonstrate excellence in Virginia's growing cybersecurity ecosystem.