About The Event
PCDC 2027 will be held on April 10-12, 2027. Ten teams will compete on each day of the event with high schools competing on Saturday, colleges on Sunday, and the pros on Monday. CyberPatriot will be used as the high school qualifier and the Southeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition for the collegiate qualifier. "Cyber in the Middle" (CITM) and also the Southeast Region Collegiate HackWarz were held Saturday April 10.
Click Here to see a slide show of the event!
2027 Scenario:
Coming Soon
We will once again host the Southeast Region Collegiate on 10 April 2027: HackWarz®.
2026 Participants:
The High School Teams that competed were: AAST, Academic Magnet, Ashley Ridge, Cane Bay, Center for Advanced Studies - Chapin, Clover, DMTC, CTE Innovation Center, Homeschool STEM, and Military Magnet
Collegiate Teams that competed were: Citadel, Claflin/Horry Georgetown, Clemson, CofC, CSU, ECPI, Naval Academy, TTC, UNCW, USC Aiken, and USC
Overview
Promoting cyber security education and awareness
PCDC is an event for the promotion of Cyber Security education and awareness. Competition energizes local high schools and colleges to develop invigorating and focused curriculum for the technical needed in today’s fast-paced and challenging cyber environment. A brochure for the event is posted in the Documents Section
Competition is an all-day event followed by awards presentations and a networking opportunity where representatives will be available to discuss employment possibilites. Each day brings a new set of competitors to the field allowing South Carolina high schools, regional colleges, and cyber security professionals to go head-to-head. The schedule is posted in the Documents Section
Each 6-member team must work together as a real company would to defend their network from red team attacks while maintaining crucial business services and responding to customer and administrative demands. Winners are the most successful at thwarting the effects of hackers while keeping their businesses online and functioning.
2026 Winners
Congratulations to these winning teams!
High School
- Home School STEM
- Academic Magnet
- AAST
- MVP:Matt Jackson, Clover High School
College
- Clemson
- University of South Carolina
- The Citadel
- MVP:Citadel Cadet Jack Cooper
Pro
- US National Cyber Team
- SRC
- LEIDOS
Southeast Regional Collegiate HackWarz Champion
- University of South Carolina
- United States Naval Academy
- The Citadel
Event Venue
PCDC 2027 will again be held on 10-12 April 2027 at Trident Technical College in North Charleston in building 920. A map to the venue is posted in the Documents Section. You can download/view the map directly by Clicking Here.
THANK YOU to our 2026 sponsors!!!
The competition, awards, scholarships and prizes are made possible through the generous support of many industry and institutional sponsors and over 100 volunteers, as well as many cyber security industry supporters & volunteers both in South Carolina & throughout the United States. The AFCEA SC Low Country Chapter wishes to recognize the generosity and continuing support of our many Corporate Sponsors who make the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition possible.
