Cyber Center

Since its inception in 2011, Valencia College has participated in the National Cyber League's (NCL) bi-annual competitions. These competitions occur in the Fall and Spring semesters. The number of Valencia College students competing at the NCL has increased from 16 players in 2013 to 61 players in the Fall of 2017. Unfortunately, due to the recent lock-down, Valencia College has not fielded an official team for the NCL for some time. However, individual students have still been competing and doing well.

Valencia's Cyber Defense team participated in the 2016, 2017, and 2018 Collegiate Cyber Defense Competitions as a member of the southeast region. The Associate in Science program in Cybersecurity and Network Engineering Technology at Valencia College is the only two-year program in the state of Florida that continues to participate in the southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CECCDC). The CNET Cybersecurity Club at Valencia College plays a major role in helping students (both in and out of the CNET program) train for the competitions. Valencia College has also created a cyber stadium for players to practice all year around for various Cyber Defense exercises. The CNET Cybersecurity Club members volunteer as CyberPatriot mentors for various high schools in the Orange and Osceola counties.

The PicoCTF is a great way to introduce students to Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions. Participants learn to tackle challenges across six domains of cybersecurity, including general skills, cryptography, web exploitation, forensics, and more. Each challenge is intentionally designed to be “hacked,” providing a safe and legal environment for students to gain valuable hands-on experience. Valencia College proudly participates in PicoCTF each year, encouraging students to apply classroom concepts in real-world cybersecurity scenarios while fostering teamwork, problem-solving, and technical growth.