Join the Contest

We are looking for college students in the Southeast US who are interested in competing in a capture-the-flag/hacking competition on Saturday, 12 April, 2025. NIWC Atlantic, the Navy’s East Coast Engineering Center, in collaboration with the South Carolina Lowcountry Chapter of the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association (AFCEA) and Life Cycle Engineering, facilitates HackWarz as part of the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition (PCDC) each spring. As mentioned above the event will be part of the Palmetto Cyber Defense Competition (PCDC) held at the Trident Technical College in North Charleston, SC. Hack Warz® @ PCDC will be held on the first day of PCDC (12APR2025) in collaboration with Life Cycle Engineering® (LCE) and will be held in-person. LCE’s Hack Warz® is an event that is intended to help participants learn about security while also allowing cybersecurity students to hone their skills. The event is designed to be FUN and stretch the competitors' security muscles! Competitors have opportunities to compromise several systems and gain valuable tokens (flags) for points. Tokens are valued according to difficulty and skillset required. A training session that includes Q&A will be held at a date and time yet to be determined.

Registration Form

Hack Warz® @ PCDC will be open to all colleges and universities in the Southeast Region (Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama & Tennessee) on a first come, first serve basis. Deadline for registration is 7 March for one team per school, after which colleges will be allowed additional teams, space permitting. A total of 30 students will compete in teams of up to 3 students per team.

Recruiters from the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC), private industry and other entities will be observing the competition. The winning team will receive a trophy, valuable prizes and $500 cash. Continuity checks are scheduled to begin at 8:30 am followed by opening ceremonies at 8:50 am. The competition will begin at 9:00 am. The scoring will end at 2:30 pm and the closing ceremonies for Hack Warz® and PCDC will run from 3:30 pm to 5:00 pm.