The CyberTitan V team round-up is here! Meet our Top 11 teams.
To provide insight into these teams, we asked some of the following questions: Why did you join CyberTitan? Why is cybersecurity important to you? What snacks are MUST HAVES to succeed? Check out what they had to say!
And join us live at the CyberTitan Competition and Summit this May 16 – 18, Register Today!
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Art Academy | William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York, ON
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
“Highlights? VMware crashing, figuring out that disposable mousepads were a thing, forgetting passwords, crying with joy when we got first in Canada on the leaderboard, crying with sorrow an hour later when we got usurped by the gods at ULR, etc. It’s a wild ride.” – Bernie C
“When permitted, meeting up in-person for the six-hour time slots was fun, as there’s something special about being in the same room compared to being virtual. We brought snacks whenever we met up and kept it light-hearted throughout the competition.” – Justin L
“Bernie would often play the piano during the competition, offering amazing background music to help our team unwind.” – Nicole C
“Eating pizza” – Justin Z
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
”I got wrapped up in CyberTitan because of my friends, some of whom wanted to gain patented Hackerman™ skills, some of whom had dollar signs over their eyes. Not to say that I’m not interested in cybersecurity. It was a hidden interest that I’m thankful I found out.” – Bernie C
“In Grade 10, I was invited to join a team tryout. I turned it down at the time and later regretted the choice. Having other friends perform well in CyberTitan and being passionate about cybersecurity encouraged me to try out CTF competitions with them over the summer break. The following year, I started my own team.” – Justin L
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
“Learning about various network vulnerabilities gave me a better understanding of the importance of cybersecurity.” – Justin Z
“The competition gave me another look at the industry and what defense and securing systems look like, instead of just attacking and developing exploits in CTFs.” – Paul L
“CyberTitan helped me discover some of the more technical aspects, such as editing policies and other things, compared to the things I knew before such as not clicking on suspicious links.” – Hazel G
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Unavailable For Legal Reasons | William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute, North York, ON
Hey again! We’re Steven, Celeste, Tracy, Nathan, Ivy, and Matthew, collectively known as Unavailable for Legal Reasons from the William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute in North York, Ontario — or Teapot and 404:team_not_found in the past.
Three years ago, the six of us joined the CyberTitan competition because of our shared interests in programming, hacking, networking, and cybersecurity, with the goal of challenging ourselves and having some fun. Over the years, we’ve learned, practiced, competed, and really understood just how important cybersecurity is in the online era. Never has there been so much data on the internet—and all too often poorly protected.
This is unfortunately our last year of competition, but we’ve had some amazing times. Chief among them was traveling to Maryland in March as the only Canadian team in the CyberPatriot XIV National Finals. It was an unforgettable trip where we became much closer friends while seeing the beautiful sights of the United States capital. We hope to do well at CyberTitan V’s National Finals, and we also wish the best to our fellow competitors. You’re all amazing! – 451 (Team Unavailable For Legal Reasons)
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6ixside Tech | Earl Haig Secondary School, North York, ON
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
Our team is self-sufficient, with each team member specialized in securing the specific operating systems presented during competitions. When competing, we like listening to music to help motivate us. We help each other out when we are stuck on problems. We share a common passion for cybersecurity and developing our skills through competition is engaging and inspiring.
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
We participated in the CyberPatriot competition, hosted by the U.S Air Force Association. Our high placement granted us the opportunity to compete in CyberTitan. These two competitions allow us to pursue our passion for cybersecurity and to enhance our critical thinking skills. Competing against like-minded teams and solving complex problems presented by forensics questions and other competition challenges is incredibly rewarding.
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
Through CyberTitan, our team has realized the importance of cybersecurity via various applications of security concepts and how vulnerabilities can be present on any modern-day operating system or on our networks. CyberTitan presents us an opportunity to explore the various ways that cybersecurity concepts are applied to real world applications and the pathways to patch them when exploited.
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FalconTech Post Mortem | Centre Wellington District High School, Fergus, ONWhat are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
Post Mortem includes one member of last year’s top female wildcard team, Terabytches3.0, and four members of last year’s Top Defender Plagueware team, so it’s our most experienced and diverse team yet!
Matteo and Ben have taken us to new levels of automation by bringing scripting into our defensive cybersecurity work. They have also opened points in Linux-based operating systems that we only dreamed of in previous years. Kohan, Max and Dania have combined to produce our strongest Microsoft-focused blue team in our history, and Tess consistently produced the top Canadian scores in Cisco networking during CyberPatriot during year. This team has intense specializations, but they all communicate and collaborate brilliantly.
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
We stumbled across CyberTitan when ICTC started it in 2017/18. We were using monthly ICT job stats to help students determine career pathways and saw the call for CyberTitan. Four seniors were convinced to have a go at it, and we were all shocked to get an email inviting us to the first national finals in Fredericton. We built on our first-year success by producing the first-ever national finalist all-female team in 2019, and our girl’s teams have done wonderfully since and have also improved female participation in our computer engineering program.
As their coach, I’m an old-school IT guy, so CyberTitan introduced me to current state-of-the-art cybersecurity, which has radically updated my teaching practice. In 2019, I got my first IT qualification in 15 years as a Cyber Operation instructor with Cisco. CyberTitan is a brilliant way to introduce both students and educators to a subject that most usually avoid in fear.
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
You don’t realize how important cybersecurity and cyber awareness are in modern life until you peek behind the curtain—something that CyberTitan/CyberPatriot does wonderfully well. Many students are surprised at how accessible cyber skills are, and how many hacks are more crimes of opportunity rather than technical brilliance. Cybersecurity isn’t a rarified specialization only available to geniuses—many people with diverse talents can find a place in this field!
What is your cybersecurity superpower?
Post Mortem’s superpower is COLLABORATION, but they all have individual superpowers too! Matteo is a coding genius. Ben is the most talented hacker we’ve ever had. Dania is a natural leader who brings the team together. Max and Kohan are grizzled veterans of Windows security, and Tess is a uniquely talented network architect. Together they VOLTRON into a super robot of cybersecurity (or a bird with an egg in it).
What helps you get in the zone while competing?
We snack the heck out of CyberPatriot rounds, and our school looks after us with pizza lunches. Before we kick things off, we play a round of pump-up songs. Our favorite this year is ENEMY by Imagine Dragons.
The snack table is full of specific snacks, but I (Coach King) bring in chips and pop for everyone. You can’t code/defend without snacks!
What is your pre-competition ritual?
We turn the classroom lights off, light up the LED lights we’ve installed in the ceiling, and go into SUBMARINE MODE, ready for another deep dive into cybersecurity!
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Morpheus | Centre Wellington District High School, Fergus, ON
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Syntax Error | Sisler High School, Winnipeg, MB
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
“Our team has transitioned from being all sophomores and a senior, to four juniors, a sophomore, and a freshman. We’ve got competition rituals of drinking GFUEL. We fit well with our team roles (server, windows, Linux, etc.), and make it through heavy snow just to compete.” – Syrus N-M
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
” I would say the incentive came mostly from the ICTC itself when I attended a conference about CyberTitan in January of 2020. It held my interest over the years, and as soon as I had the opportunity to compete, I took it.” – Elwood I
“I joined CyberTitan for many reasons. The learning opportunities and being able to properly secure a machine. Also, being able to socialize with friends and learn more about Cybersecurity. I found that CyberTitan has been a fundamental part of my growth in cybersecurity.” – Erik E
“I was encouraged to join CyberTitan since it’s a great place to test out what you do know and continue learning cyber skills.” – Dilpreet K
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
“CyberTitan has really changed my perspective on cybersecurity because I learned about all the different ways to secure a computer. I also learned that cybersecurity isn’t just having a secure password and an antivirus, it’s many other things like group policy edits, user settings, and updating applications frequently.” – Erik E
“I think CyberTitan has shown me that in the real world, cybersecurity is a team effort, and as scenarios get more and more complex, the more true that statement gets.” – Clyde A
“The CyberTitan has changed my perspective on cybersecurity. You see that it is so much bigger than just securing one image or changing a password. It’s across every computer, and the tiniest things can make the biggest difference.” – Syrus N-M
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Olympians Apollo | Old Scona Academic, Edmonton, AB
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
“Singing along to Christmas music and hyping each other up when we score points on images is one of the more memorable highlights.” – Elina A
“One highlight would be when some of my team members and I went to get bubble tea after a competition. Also, in general, hearing the ping of gaining a point in competition and the motivation we would get from this to push on to find more vulnerabilities.” – Rabeea S
“The last few minutes of competition stick out to me the most. Usually, at that point, the whole team is crowded around one computer, hoping that we can score additional points on that image. The team is completely connected in our desperation and when that point notification appears the celebration is unforgettable.” – Teresa R
“This year, my favourite highlight was the time we competed in December. We played Christmas music the entire day and some of my teammates bought us 7 Eleven cookies.” – Bayan S
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
”I really wanted to try it out since it is an opportunity to learn something beyond my scope of knowledge! Cybersecurity was something new to me, and I just started to learn to code then, so I thought it would be nice to learn something related and widen my horizon.” – Yoyo L
“I joined CyberTitan because I heard from former competitors that it was a good experience to gain computer science skills. I also thought it would be more fun to learn cybersecurity in a competitive environment.” – Jenny T
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
“CyberTitan has taught me that cybersecurity is applicable in more situations than you think. Not only is it relevant in major corporations, but it is also crucial in protecting personal data in our day-to-day use of technology and social media. It has encouraged me to take cybersecurity courses so that I can improve the security of my own personal devices and inform my family and friends.” – Jenny T
“It changed my perspective on literally everything. I never realized how intelligent a computer system was designed and how protocols were used to protect data privacy and security. Because of CyberTitan and learning computer science throughout high school, I learned about the importance of keeping my information secure and the consequences of a data leak, and it even encouraged me to consider double majoring in Chemistry and Computer Science!” – Yoyo L
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Olympians Athena | Old Scona Academic, Edmonton, AB
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
We are all great at dealing with computers and technology, but still have different strengths and weaknesses. Some of us are great at math, while others excel in computer science and coding, but we all enjoy competing and pushing each other to be our best.
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
CyberTitan seems like a great opportunity for our team to explore the world of cybersecurity in a fun and competitive way. We found it to be a great learning opportunity that provided us what a lot of experience in real-life cybersecurity issues.
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
CyberTitan makes us realize how oblivious we are to cybersecurity on our computers. It shows us how we take the systems our devices rely on for granted, and the overall importance of securing our devices because of how easy it has become to cause harm using the internet in this era as we become more reliant on technology.
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Olympians Poseidon | Old Scona Academic, Edmonton, AB
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
Madhav is exceptionally good at basketball, Maheep is a gold medal winner in field hockey, Oliver is a coding prodigy as well as a hackathon winner, Mahd loves technology and he is a computer freak, Gaurang is an outstanding defender in soccer, Tenzein loves making scripts as well as coding.
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
Our entire team really enjoys cybersecurity. CyberTitan is an amazing way for us to apply these skills to the competition and get recognition for it.
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
CyberTitan shows how important cybersecurity is as both a proactive and reactive response. Systems need to be secured proactively beforehand, but when a system is unraveling from its weak point, having a strong reactive response to the attack is extremely important, and is something that is not as present in other competitions.
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PTEC Sweats | Pembina Trails Early College, Winnipeg, MB
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
“My favourite highlights throughout this cybersecurity season were the jokes we would make during competition time. Having a team of competitive members, we would get quite anxious during each round; we incorporated humour as a form of stress relief. So, whether it be dad-cyber jokes or roasts at each other, we all got a great laugh. The practical application of what we are learning in school, and I also had some friends who were interested. “ – Ben K
“Some fun highlights about our team members are that we span two grades and have been doing the same job (Windows, Linux, packet tracer, etc.) since we started CyberPatriot/CyberTitan. We have been doing It for 3 years and had never made it past state round until this year.” – Sam R
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
“I joined because I wanted a fun and extra-curricular activity after school that would challenge me and further my knowledge in cybersecurity.” – Kaden S
“I first heard about Cyber Patriot in grade 9, at that point I knew very little about cybersecurity and wanted to see what it was all about. I wanted to immerse myself in new experiences, because of this I really wanted to be the Linux person on my team so I would have some external motivation to learn Linux. So, when asked about my experience with Linux I greatly overstated my proficiency, even though I had never used it. I became the Linux person on my team and after a year of Cyber Patriot I enjoyed it so much that I just kept coming back.” – Nazar V
“I joined the cybersecurity club at my school in my first year of high school, as it seemed very interesting and no other school I knew had anything similar. Furthermore, detective movies and games were one of my favourite things growing up; when I heard about combining my two favourite things, forensics analysis, and computer science, together into an after-school club, I knew I had to join.” – Ben K
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
“CyberTitan has taught me that in an ever-changing field like cybersecurity, it is important to keep up to date on the latest security vulnerabilities. The competition showed me that working with a team and bouncing ideas off each other can prove invaluable. In a field where I thought it was mostly solo work and a ton of searching up things on the internet, talking with others about certain issues and problems that I didn’t know but they were knowledgeable about was a great way to improve my learning.” – Alex H
“I’ve learned a lot about how to properly secure various systems to prevent malicious actors from penetrating and stealing data.” – Kaden S
“CyberTitan has shown me the vast number of exploits which threaten our cyber security. It has exposed me to the fact that even the default settings that come preinstalled on operating systems may be insecure. Ultimately, it has shown that in our rapidly changing world it is ever important to be vigilant about our cyber security.” – Nazar V
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MHS Junior Warriors | McAdam Middle School, McAdam, NB
What are some fun highlights about your team or team members?
“We are all friends and hang out together outside of CyberTitan. We are also all on the basketball team together, so we have experience working together as a team.” - Jacob M
“This year we got some cool swag from a company called Bulletproof that is a CyberSecurity company, and we also got really nice hats from Microsoft.” - Hayden F
“We are from a really small school in a really small town (1,200 people). Even though there are only like 90 kids in our entire school (grades 6-12), we had three different teams that were competing this year – and it’s really cool that we won as a middle school – it shows that we can be as good as any of the teams from the other larger schools.” - Rowan F
“For the semi final round it was hard, because we had to compete from home over Teams again, but it was cool too because the school dropped over care packages for each of us with lots of drinks and snacks to help keep us all going.” - Riley T
“The support for the boys from not just the school, but the community at large this year, has been amazing. We made a post the day of the semi-finals to wish them luck and had a huge outpouring of best wishes from people in our village, and for weeks I had people stopping me on the street asking us how they made out. Everyone is very proud of what the team has been able to accomplish this year.” - Coach Trevor F
What encouraged you to join CyberTitan?
“I had gone to a coding camp before and my Dad encouraged me to give Cyber Titans a try. Also, we have pizza on every competition day so that helped keep me coming back.” - Hayden F
“Some friends told me I should try it out, and at the first meeting we did this code breaking exercise that I thought was cool.” - Jacob M
“My older brothers were both already doing it and they seemed to like it so I thought I would try it out too.” - Rowan F
“My friends told me to come and that there was free pizza and drinks.” - Riley T
How has CyberTitan changed your perspective on the importance of Cybersecurity?
“I didn’t understand before some of the different rules about why our passwords had to be a certain way or why we shouldn’t use the same one all the time. I also didn’t used to be careful about what type of apps I downloaded, but now I understand how a lot of apps aren’t legit and can steal your data.” - Jacob M
“I’ve learned a lot about all the different ways that people can break into your computer and how easy it can be if you don’t do some of the very basic stuff, like use a good password or have a firewall. Before I didn’t even think about these things and would just do whatever was easiest to do what I wanted to get done.” - Rowan F
“In CyberTitan, we’ve talked a lot about different hacks that are happening and how the different people and groups do it. It’s made me think about how important it is that we build new things with security in mind first, because if there is any way that anyone can break into it, they will find a way.” - Hayden F
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Special thank you to our CyberTitan V sponsors and the Competition Development Team.
