After winning its last six competitions and regionals ahead, the Southeast Cyber Defense team ultimately has its eyes set on San Antonio where the national competition will be held.

The latest win came March 3 at Dempster Hall. The team's skills will be tested again March 23 and 24 at the Midwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in Illinois where they will be competing against other teams in the region.

The Cyber Defense team takes part in demanding competitions that last close to eight hours in which their skills of defending against attackers or attacking systems is put to the test.

In competition, they are the blue team while defending against attackers and the red team while engaging in attacking systems.

While there are 12 members on the Cyber Defense team at Southeast, only eight members are allowed to be in the room and compete in the competition. The other four members are the alternates.

Team member and captain is Lucas Kossack, a junior at Southeast. He said while he enjoys the defensive strategies that come from the blue team, he plans on pursuing more of a red-team role in his future.

With six straight titles, Kossack said the key to the teams overall success is the way the team works together.

“We pass knowledge down through the years,” Kossack said.

Looking back to last year, he noted how the team fell short at regionals last year.

“Last year we did not place in the top three at regionals, which is something we normally do. We are really hoping to come back as we have one of the strongest teams since I’ve been here. We are really gunning for first” Kossack said.

First place would earn the team a trip to San Antonio on April 13-15.

Members of the team are preparing for the regional by mimicking the environment they will be in during competition.

With three years of experience on the cyber defense team, Kossack looks to continue his leadership role through his essential knowledge of cyber security.

“I got started really early compared to most people,” he said. “We normally don’t have freshmen on the team. I have competed all three years since I’ve been on the team.”

Kossack said his interest in joining the team was sparked when he realized he could be involved with a club in his area of study.

“That was my big reason for joining. I wanted to get involved, and I’ve always been someone who likes to get out there and do stuff, at least in my area,” he said.

With cyber security being a challenging degree, the club allows for members of the team to continue growing their knowledge in this field of study.

The team generally spends eight hours in a room during competition and depends highly on communicating with each other through situations.

“It gets pretty high pressured,” Kossack said.

The pressure seems to be working well for the members of the Cyber Defense team as they focus in on their next competition.

The Cyber Defense Club at Southeast, holds its meetings every Wednesday in Dempster Hall. For more information, go to https://semocdc.com.