The Cybersecurity Beanpot - A CMD+CTRL Cyber Range competition

Our Mission

We started this annual competition in hopes of building the Boston region’s reputation as a cybersecurity hub with highly-skilled talent available to meet the growing needs of the marketplace. While over 100 students from many educational institutions have joined, schools that have partnered with us for the event include, Boston College, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Northeastern's Khoury College, and Suffolk University.

Competition Results

While our goal is to foster a culture of security in students that are about to enter the professional workforce, the students' goal is the glory.

Each year we award scholarships and prizes to the top finishers, as well as the Cybersecurity Beanpot trophy to the top school. Here are the results from each year.

2019 Results

Hosted by defending champs Northeastern University in their impressive Khoury College of Computer Sciences, the 2nd annual Cybersecurity Beanpot saw students tackle our Shred retail website cyber range.

Northeastern University took the top spot for the 2nd year in a row, dominating the top 5 finishing spots. The Cybersecurity Beanpot trophy stays with the Huskies for another year.

The scholarship and prize winners were as follows:

kylesferrazza - Northeastern - $5,000 scholarship
YoungNastyMan - Northeastern - $3,000 scholarship
HuskyOracle - Northeastern - $2,000 scholarship
kamehameha - Northeastern - Bose Frames Audio Sunglasses
ob775 - Northeastern - Amazfit Bip Smartwatch

2018 Results

Graciously hosted by Suffolk University, and thanks to our contributing sponsor Beyond Trust, the inaugural Cybersecurity Beanpot was a fantastic success. The students were relentless in their attacks and combined, were able to find 90% of the vulnerabilities in our ShadowBank cyber range.

Northeastern University took the top spot, with 7 of their players scoring in the top 12! In addition to bragging rights, Northeastern took home the Security Innovation Cybersecurity Beanpot trophy.

The scholarship and prize winners were as follows:

byeung - Northeastern - $5,000 scholarship
UltraFriend - Boston College - $3,000 scholarship
Wtan - Northeastern - $2,000 scholarship
Looper - UMass Lowell - Sky Viper drone
designrecipe - Northeastern - Amazon Echo

What People Are Saying

“At Suffolk University are working hard to equip our students with the necessary skills to protect important assets from hackers. I am happy that our students had the opportunity to participate in the Cybersecurity Beanpot. It provided them with a real experiential learning opportunity.”

Benjamin K. Ngugi Ph.D, CISA
Associate Professor, Information Systems & Operations Management Department, Suffolk University

"We are very proud of our students' performance in the Cybersecurity Beanpot. It is a joy to see them do so well. It is also a testimony to Northeastern's experiential learning approach. We are thankful to Security Innovation for organizing the event, as it provides an environment for students to learn, and demonstrate their abilities."

Guevara Noubir
Professor and Director, Cybersecurity and Information Assurance Graduate Program, Northeastern University

"Thank you to Security Innovation for organizing this and to Suffolk for hosting! My students had a blast and were sending me updates all through the evening. Looking forward to the Spring Cybersecurity Beanpot Challenge!"

Kevin R. Powers, J.D.
Founding Director, MS in Cybersecurity Policy & Governance, Boston College

“We were thrilled to be a part of the inaugural Beanpot! We look forward to doing this again — cybersecurity is a critical skill which our students need to acquire, so we appreciate working with Security Innovation on this great event.”

Joseph Hartman, Ph.D., P.E.
Dean, Francis College of Engineering University of Massachusetts, Lowell

We're Looking For Schools

If you are interested in having your school participate in next year's challenge, contact us at cyberbeanpot@securityinovation.com. We're always ready to partner with Boston-area schools to continue building the region's reputation as a cybersecurity hub.