April 6, 2026
How can cybersecurity education come alive beyond the classroom? One way is at events like the Department of Energy (DOE) CyberForce Competition.
For Dr. Ahmed Ibrahim, a faculty member with SCI’s Department of Informatics and Networked Systems, participation in the 2025 DOE CyberForce Competition represents a unique opportunity to bridge theory and practice through immersive, scenario-based learning. By inviting two SCI students to compete alongside him, Ibrahim aimed to expose them to the realities of cybersecurity decision-making in high-stakes, real-world environments.
The 2025 competition tasked teams with defending an offshore oil and gas drilling unit located in the northwest Pacific Ocean. According to Ibrahim, engaging students at this level is one of the most persistent challenges in cybersecurity education.
“The CyberForce Competition emphasizes skills like teamwork, adaptive incident response, and balancing security with system usability, which are skills usually underdeveloped in traditional classrooms,” said Ibrahim.
While traditional coursework often focuses on tools, frameworks, and isolated technical problems, it can be difficult to convey the full implications of cyber threats. Beyond technical proficiency, students must communicate clearly under pressure, take decisive and appropriate actions, and meticulously document their work, skills that are essential in professional cybersecurity roles. The simulated environment goes even further, incorporating operational disruptions, public relations challenges, regulatory scrutiny, and executive-level briefings. Through these experiences, students come to understand that cybersecurity incidents affect far more than servers and networks; they ripple across organizations, industries, and everyday life.
Participating in CyberForce has also personally reshaped how Ibrahim approaches teaching cybersecurity, particularly in the context of critical infrastructure.
“Experiences like CyberForce create a feedback loop between competition and the classroom. What students encounter in real-world cybersecurity challenges directly informs how I teach, and the foundations we build in class better prepare them for those environments.”
The competition highlights the crucial distinction between Information Technology (IT) and Operational Technology (OT) environments; an area that is increasingly important yet often misunderstood. The primary difference between OT and IT systems is that OT systems are autonomous, isolated, self-contained, and run on proprietary software. In contrast, IT systems are connected, lack autonomy, and typically run on popular operating systems like iOS and Windows. In critical infrastructure settings, availability and safety frequently take precedence over confidentiality, as systems cannot simply be shut down to apply patches or updates.
One of the most challenging and valuable aspects of CyberForce for students is learning to think in terms of risk management rather than technical perfection. Early in the competition, well before implementing any technical fixes, teams are required to report long-term risks to the simulated organization’s reputation and business operations. For Sarah Reyer (SCI '28), a computer science major focusing on the cybersecurity track, one of the SCI students invited to attend CyberForce, The most challenging aspect was also the most valuable: learning entirely new skillsets and applying them in real time.
“Professor Ahmed encouraged us to lead our own learning and preparation, providing guidance and pointing out the gaps in our approach along the way,” Reyer said.
Chris Yang (SCI ‘28), an information science major, the other SCI student in attendance, emphasized the shift in thinking for the competition, like prioritizing controls based on impact versus theory, anticipating attacks, and identifying attack paths.
When another team successfully breached the SCI team’s systems, the resulting panic and sense of being overwhelmed became a powerful learning catalyst. Rather than discouraging him, the experience clarified how cybersecurity operates in practice.
“Professor Ibrahim gave us many precious suggestions, from the C-suite video to actual blue teaming, and provided us with several possible ways to defend our systems,” said Yang.
Real-world defense, Yang observed, is drastically different from textbook examples or online tutorials. In live blue-team environments, collaboration comes first, while technical execution follows. Dividing workloads, communicating clearly, and trusting teammates proved to be skills that could not be learned in isolation.
Beyond technical growth, CyberForce significantly strengthens students’ confidence and communication skills. For SCI students like Reyer and Yang, the competition closely resembles what students encounter in internships and early career roles, making CyberForce one of the most professionally valuable opportunities for those interested in cybersecurity.
Having an opportunity to work alongside faculty like Ibrahim, helps to maximize the impact of this experience for SCI students. By participating directly alongside students, SCI faculty create a feedback loop where competition insights inform curriculum development, and classroom instruction better prepares students for real-world challenges. This hands-on engagement benefits students by providing mentorship and context, strengthens academic programs through real-world validation, and connects SCI more deeply with industry and government partners working to secure critical infrastructure.
“The real value isn’t just in the tools they use -- but in recognizing and communicating that adversarial thinking is essential to protecting our national infrastructure.”
Ultimately, the CyberForce experience aligns with SCI’s broader mission to prepare students not just to use security tools, but to think critically, communicate effectively, and understand the human and societal stakes of cybersecurity. That mindset, more than any single technical skill, is what future employers and technologies infrastructure most urgently need.