Student in Natchitoches wins first place in national IT competition

NATCHITOCHES, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — A student from Northwestern State University has won first place in a national competition.

Brandon Jordan, a senior computer information systems major, won first place at the U.S. Information Technology Collegiate Conference in Springfield, Missouri. For the competition, Jordan was tasked with troubleshooting a virtual computer. This was not Jordan’s first time competing, but he claims this year’s competition was more complicated and that the event had several changes. “The competition required active application of hacking and security skills to find flags hidden through various means,” said Jordan.

This marks the second year Jordan has won the PC Troubleshooting competition. He attributes his success to his professors and the skills he developed in security-oriented classes at Northwestern. Justin Dysarz, a senior computer information systems major at NSU, won seventh place in the qualifying round of Cyber Security a day after earning his Security certification. Dysarz’s project for the competition was an anonymous chatting application with privacy and security first. Dysarz said he’s never taken a cybersecurity course and that most of his knowledge came from an outdated Amazon textbook and YouTube videos.

Since 2000, Northwestern State students have won 22 national championships in various information technology competitions. For more information on NSU’s computer information systems program, visit nsula.edu/cis.