The
Baldwin
Wallace
University
Cyber
Defense
Team
is
number
one
in
the
country
after
the
dust
settled
and
the
points
were
tallied
in
the
National
Cyber
League
(NCL)
2017
Fall
Season
competition.
The
team,
dubbing
itself
"Ken's
Little
Pwnies"
for
faculty
advisor
Kenneth
Atchinson,
fought
to
the
top
of
the
NCL
leaderboard
outranking
174
teams
nationally
across
all
brackets.
The
NCL
is
a
computer/network
security
competition
that
challenges
participants
to
break
encryption,
analyze
network
security,
break
into
websites
and
much
more.
"We
enjoy
a
team
dynamic
that
is
so
conducive
to
our
success,"
said
Jonathan
Cartwright
'16,
a
computer
network
security
alumnus
and
current
business
graduate
student
from
Cleveland.
"I
think
it
speaks
volumes
that
we
come
together
to
compete
in
the
same
room
rather
than
utilize
the
ability
to
compete
on
this
team
remotely."
In
addition
to
the
team
win,
Ian
Walton
'20,
a
software
engineering
major
from
Berea,
Ohio,
notched
a
third
place
finish
overall
in
the
NCL
Regular
Season
individual
competition
with
2,423
participants
held
earlier
in
the
month.
Teamwork
and
individual
strengths
Atchinson
says
the
intense
weekend
competition
which
started
on
a
Friday
at
noon
and
ended
Sunday
at
9
p.m.
forced
students
to
grapple
with
a
series
of
complex
tasks
and
challenges
to
test
their
skills.
"I
monitored
the
chatroom
and
found
them
working
most
of
the
night
and
even
into
the
early
morning
on
problems,"
Atchinson
reports.
"Needless
to
say,
they
worked
really
hard
and
put
in
lots
of
hours
on
solving
the
problems.
They
worked
on
problems
best
suited
to
their
talents,
and
worked
as
a
team,
educating
each
other
on
the
best
methods
and
approaches."
Team
captain
Meredith
Kasper
'20,
a
computer
network
security
major
from
Parma,
Ohio,
noted,
"One
of
our
greatest
moments
was
the
last
10
minutes…[when]
we
were
scrambling
to
get
five
more
points.
We
submitted
answers
between
8:57
and
8:59.
Luckily,
they
were
correct
and
we
saw
our
team
move
into
first
place.
I
could
not
be
prouder
of
my
team
if
I
tried
after
the
amazing
teamwork
everyone
displayed
throughout
the
weekend."
Kasper
also
says
the
NCL
competitions
helped
her
to
land
a
job
as
a
security
operations
center
analyst
by
giving
her
practical
experience
that
would
be
difficult
to
obtain
elsewhere.
Winning
Cyber
Warriors
In
addition
to
Cartwright,
Walton
and
Kasper,
the
team
was
comprised
of
John
Blainer
'18,
a
computer
network
security
and
computer
information
systems
major
from
Lakewood,
Ohio;
Dan
Jesensky
'18,
a
software
engineering,
computer
network
security
and
computer
information
systems
major
from
North
Royalton,
Ohio;
Andrew
Wilhelm
'18,
a
computer
network
security
major
from
Brooklyn,
Ohio;
Kurt
Wolfe
'18,
a
computer
network
security
major
from
Cleveland;
and
Emory
Leinweber
'21,
a
computer
network
security
major
from
Ottawa
Hills,
Ohio.
BW's
previous
best
finish,
in
spring
2017,
was
5th
place
overall
and
first
place
in
the
silver
bracket.
