{"687371":{"#nid":"687371","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Wins Fifth Straight NSA Codebreaker Challenge","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe United States Air Force\u0027s Cyber Operations Squadron was in a crisis. A sophisticated foreign adversary was threatening national security, and it was up to the National Security Agency to help.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis was the fictional \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nsa-codebreaker.org\/challenge\u0022\u003Escenario\u003C\/a\u003E of the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/nsa-codebreaker.org\/leaderboard\u0022\u003E2025 NSA Codebreaker Challenge\u003C\/a\u003E, which was once again dominated by Georgia Tech students, faculty, and alumni. With a score of nearly 300,000 points, they took first among Division I schools.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cGeorgia Tech continues to win this highly challenging competition each year because of our outstanding students and the excellence of the cybersecurity and privacy curriculum that has been developed by SCP faculty,\u201d said Mustaque Ahamad, Interim Chair for the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cOur courses provide not only foundational knowledge of the discipline, but also give students experience with tools and techniques that help them shine at this competition.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the keys to Georgia Tech\u2019s success is that it integrates the challenge into students\u2019 coursework. Professor Taesoo Kim has included it in his \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/omscs.gatech.edu\/cs-6265-information-security-lab\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003ECS 6265: Information Security Lab\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E every year to give students real-life experience.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe NSA Codebreaker Challenge highlights the strength of Georgia Tech\u2019s cybersecurity program and the hands-on, mission-driven training our students receive. Through courses like CS 6265 and others like it, students apply advanced security concepts to real-world problems, reinforcing Georgia Tech\u2019s long-standing excellence and leadership in cybersecurity education.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year was the first time the NSA broke the Codebreaker Challenge for colleges and universities into divisions based on the number of participants. The winners of divisions one, two, and three were considered the winners of the challenge. Georgia Tech was in the top division with 272 students, four instructors, 27 alumni, and two in the other category. The Institute had a total of 305 participants, the second largest in the competition.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe NSA Codebreaker Challenge is open to anyone with an email address from a recognized U.S. school or university. All players register and log in individually. Students, professors, and alumni can participate, but only students earn points and awards.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E\u003C\/div\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe 2025 NSA Codebreaker Challenge, which was once again dominated by Georgia Tech students, faculty, and alumni. With a score of nearly 300,000 points, they took first among Division I schools.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The 2025 NSA Codebreaker Challenge, which was once again dominated by Georgia Tech students, faculty, and alumni."}],"uid":"36253","created_gmt":"2026-01-16 13:50:02","changed_gmt":"2026-01-22 13:40:45","author":"John Popham","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-01-15T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2026-01-15T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"660367","name":"School of Cybersecurity and Privacy"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"193158","name":"Student Competition Winners (academic, innovation, and research)"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71871","name":"Campus and Community"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:mailto;jpopham3@gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJohn Popham\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ECommunications Officer II\u0026nbsp;\u003Cbr\u003ESchool of Cybersecurity and Privacy\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}