National Cyber League Competition
The National Cyber League (NCL) is a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition that provides students hands on experience solving problems and using tools common to the cybersecurity field. It encompasses a range of domains in cybersecurity, including Open Source Intelligence (OSINT), Cryptography, Log Analysis, Network Traffic Analysis, Web Application Exploitation, Scanning, and Enumeration and Exploitation.
NCL is open to all currently enrolled students in the bachelor's or master's program, and has challenges ranging from beginner friendly to advanced. It costs $35, which is not covered by the school or club, however gets you access to the entire season including the practice gym, the pre-seson, individual game, and team game.
The WGUCC offers guided walkthroughs of the practice gym live on the Discord server, as well as writeups of the practice gym and resources for the competition also on the Discord server. The WGUCC also creates teams out of the students in the club who want to participate, and have paid for the NCL season. The teams are formed after the individual game trying to match strengths and weaknesses to build balanced teams. A faculty coach can also offer potential feedback after the competition on how to improve on weak areas.
Since fall of 2019 WGUCC has helped members hone their skills, rising from 80th in the NCL Power rankings to 16th in the Fall of 2021 and ranking 1st in participation during the 2020 and 2021 seasons.