After hours of puzzling and problem-solving, Hunter Wittenborn, a student from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, emerged as champion of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2024 CyberForce® Conquer the Hill® Reign Competition.
Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response
July 16, 2024
minute read time
Cybersecurity, computer science, math, and critical thinking skills at play in race to escape
After hours of puzzling and problem-solving, Hunter Wittenborn, a student from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, emerged as champion of the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2024 CyberForce® Conquer the Hill® Reign Competition. Hosted by DOE’s Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER) and the Argonne National Laboratory, Hunter Wittenborn competed with other collegiate students studying cybersecurity to tackle a series of challenges in a video game style escape room.
The Reign Competition is part of DOE's CyberForce® Program, which aims to develop the next generation of cyber defenders for the energy sector. Through hands-on individual and team competitions, the program highlights the nexus of critical infrastructure and cybersecurity.
In this year’s contest, 149 students from 77 universities and colleges entered a virtual escape room to help their character, nicknamed “DUDE”, conquer five levels of varying technical skills and challenges in order to escape. Not every challenge provided immediate progression or support and students had to use a combination of cybersecurity, computer science, mathematics, and critical thinking skills to traverse to the next level. Hunter Wittenborn helped DUDE escape all five levels in the fastest time and was declared the Reign Champion.
“I am excited to see another successful Conquer the Hill Reign competition and the ingenuity and hard work of this year’s competitors,” said Puesh M. Kumar, Director of CESER. “ Competitions like Reign enhance skills and drive interest in joining the nation’s rising cyber energy workforce. Congratulations to the winner, Hunter Wittenborn, from the University of Alabama in Huntsville!”
"Competitions such as Reign provide unique and fun educational opportunities for students to absorb complex topics in a relatable way,” said Amanda Theel, Argonne National Laboratory lead of the CyberForce Program and group leader of Workforce Development in Argonne’s Strategic Security Sciences division. “Ideally, these students can take what they learned in a competition and use that experience to build confidence within this field.”
The need for workers with sophisticated cyber skills is increasing. From January 2023 to January 2024, there were only 82 workers available for every 100 cybersecurity job openings in the U.S., according to CyberSeek (2023 data) of the National Institute of Standards and Technology National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NIST NICE). Programs like CyberForce are essential to address this workforce gap.
The CyberForce Program began in 2016 with the team-based CyberForce Competition® and has since expanded to include webinars, virtual career fairs, three virtual, individual-based cybersecurity competitions, including Reign, and an online workforce portal. These activities and resources help students develop skills, find job opportunities, and stay informed about upcoming events and training. The program focuses on cyber skill training at the intersections of operational technology and information technology, simulates real-world energy scenarios within competitions, and makes critical thinking and soft skills key components of its offerings.
For more information about the CyberForce Program and upcoming events, please visit the CyberForce website.