UNC claimed victory in the first-ever competition with more than 2,100 participants, representing 6.45% of the student, faculty and staff population. NC State was the runner-up by participation percentage with 6.02% student faculty and staff participation. Duke drew 4.1% of its total population.
While UNC claimed the championship with participation percentage, NC State did edge out UNC with the highest total number of participants — 2,188 to UNC’s 2,119. NC State had the highest total draw, but Tar Heels can brag that they gained the most student participants — nearly 1,500 — of the three universities.
ITS and the Information Security Office co-organized the event with colleagues at Duke and NC State.
Designed to engage
The competition was designed to make engaging with cybersecurity fun by leveraging friendly competition and sports rivalries.
To play, students, faculty and staff from each university logged into the Cyber Bowl site and answered five cybersecurity quiz questions. The questions covered cybersecurity challenges that affect everyone, like phishing and password security. For each school, enticing thousands of users to engage with cybersecurity is a huge win.
The Cyber Bowl was a new idea to celebrate National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. UNC, NC State and Duke, alongside organizations across the world, celebrate National Cybersecurity Awareness Month every October.
Founded in 2004 by the National Cyber Security Alliance and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Cybersecurity Awareness Month is the world’s foremost initiative promoting cybersecurity awareness and best practices.
The goal of Cybersecurity Awareness Month is to help users stay safe online and understand the role they play in protecting their communities from cyber threats. This year, ITS and the Information Security Office celebrated with a webinar with a Microsoft cybersecurity expert, a live recording of the cybersecurity podcast Data@Rest, a tent event in the Pit and, of course, the inaugural Cyber Bowl.
Months of effort
Orchestrating the Cyber Bowl was a major undertaking. Organizers from UNC, Duke and NC State first met in January 2024 to begin planning, and it took months of effort to bring the competition to life.
While the competition hinged on the rivalry between the institutions, there were challenges in integrating three universities into one challenge. Players needed to be able to log into one site with their school ID, take a quiz that was relevant to them, then have their scores calculated as a percentage of the entire school’s population.
The Cyber Bowl came together with contributions from each university. UNC-Chapel Hill contributed to writing quiz questions and created shared assets that the three universities used to promote the Cyber Bowl. The visuals, Cyber Bowl brand and shared written resources were created to be flexible to adapt to each university’s brand but tie the project together as a cohesive whole.
Ready to defend the title
Carolina is ready to defend the title of Cyber Bowl champion in a rematch next year. With a successful launch on the books, organizers expect that a second Cyber Bowl will draw even more players.
And next year’s competition may not be between just UNC, Duke and NC State.
In October, representatives from each university presented at a regional conference and shared how they had brought the competition to fruition.
Leaders from other UNC System institutions expressed interest in joining the competition. Organizers will soon extend an invitation to next year’s Cyber Bowl to all UNC System schools.
