For Immediate Release
June 25, 2019

Five Suffolk Cyber Sleuths to Compete in Dept. of Energy’s CyberForce Competition at Brookhaven National Lab

Five Suffolk County Community College cyber sleuths will compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) fourth collegiate CyberForce Competition at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on December 1. Seventy teams will participate in the nationwide competition in which students defend a simulated energy infrastructure from cyberattacks launched by cybersecurity professionals while maintaining service for their customers (played by volunteers). One national winner and winners from each of seven laboratory sites, including Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories will be announced.

Five Suffolk County Community College cyber sleuths will compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) fourth collegiate CyberForce Competition at Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) on December 1. Seventy teams will participate in the nationwide competition in which students defend a simulated energy infrastructure from cyberattacks launched by cybersecurity professionals while maintaining service for their customers (played by volunteers). One national winner and winners from each of seven laboratory sites, including Argonne, Idaho, Lawrence Berkeley, Oak Ridge, Pacific Northwest, and Sandia National Laboratories will be announced.

Nolan Smith (E. Patchogue), Chris Renzine (Medford), Anthony Lippman (Miller Place), Melissa Fisk (Deer Park) and Jonathan Delia (Lindenhurst) will represent Suffolk at BNL against teams from Columbia University, New York University, the United States Military Academy at West Point, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), among others.

At the event, students will work from laptops to maintain the security and usability of the cyber infrastructure for a hypothetical oil discovery, exploration, and transportation company. Information technology administrators will help the students set up their infrastructure, and volunteers will perform functions of typical system end users. Throughout the day, teams will be presented with network anomalies that they must distinguish from malicious network behavior. A panel of chief information security officers will judge the creativity and innovation of the teams’ defense strategies.


“The work of this group of students has been exceptional, they have used the knowledge they gained in the classroom and have applied it to a real world situation.  They have demonstrated excellent communication and teamwork while overcoming many obstacles.  I have been honored to be able to serve as a mentor for the team,” said Cybersecurity Club Advisor Jonathan Sadowski.

The annual CyberForce Competition is designed to provide hands-on cyber education for college students and industry and government professionals, increase awareness of the critical infrastructure and cybersecurity nexus, and improve basic understanding of cybersecurity within a real-world scenario.

Suffolk County Community College offers The Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degree program that prepares students for entry-level careers in the cybersecurity industry. Cybercrime has been designated a high priority by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and has increased the need for trained professionals to safeguard personal information, follow electronic trails and stymie and apprehend cyber criminals.

The cybersecurity profession is quickly creating skilled technical jobs in computer forensics and network administration. Many cybersecurity experts work in the corporate world, focusing on the protection of social security and credit card information, financial transactions, and sensitive data. Suffolk County Community College students who complete the degree and certifications can expect to find employment in a broad range of industries, including financial, healthcare, IT, education – and essentially any organization that relies upon the internet. Cybersecurity professions are expected to grow 17 percent through 2024.