Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge in Austin, Texas

This past weekend, 3 Duke Cyber Policy teams flew to Austin, Texas to compete in the Atlantic Council’s Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, hosted by UT Austin Strauss Center.

In December, we recieved an intelligence packet containing evidence of two seemingly separate cyber incidents, impacting US critical infrastructures. Over the next month or so, my team, Devil’s Data Decryptors, dove into the case and prepared briefs outlining the situation and our crisis response recommendations for the US government.

On Saturday, we presented our 1-pager to a panel of judges (a mock “National Security Council”– although one of our judges had actually served on the real NSC), and defended our choices through rigorous Q&A from cyber and policy experts.

That afternoon, we found out that we had made it to the semi-final round! Before the next intelligence packet dropped at 8PM that night, there was a critical event at 5:30PM: the Duke-UNC game. All three Duke teams came over to my team’s hotel room and we watched the game over brisket and tacos.

Shortly after 8PM (and a Duke win), we tackled the second intelligence packet, reshaping our 1-page brief. We crashed for a nap at 4:30AM, and woke up at 8AM to prepare for our semi-final presentation.

Our semi-final round went much better than our first semi-final performance in NYC, but although we were optimistic, we were still realistic– only the top 3 teams would qualify for finals. We spent lunchtime chatting with other teams and professionals and catching up on schoolwork, while other teams spent their spare time prepping for finals and sourcing ideas from other teams, expecting to qualify for finals.

To our surprise, my team advanced to the finals, competing alongside Stanford and the Air Command and Staff College—a graduate institution for mid-career military officers.

In the final round, each team had just 15 minutes to review a third intelligence packet and prepare a presentation. Nothing was more important than trust in your teammates. Unlike the earlier rounds, where we could collaborate, debate strategies, and build a shared proposal, the finals demanded speed and instinct. There was barely time to organize your own thoughts, let alone align with teammates.

It all passed in the blink of an eye– I found myself improvising a presentation in front of a panel of judges and a crowd of competitors, seemingly just seconds after skimming through the new packet. Judges pushed hard in all directions, and we scrambled to defend our proposals in those precious 10 minutes.

30 minutes later, after a few bloody noses, trading dress shoes to sneakers, and preparing for our immediate flight back to RDU, we awaited results…

First place. Prize money. Black Hat USA 2025 passes (!!!!!!). I still can’t believe it.

Las Vegas, see you in August! Thank you, Atlantic Council, Cyber 9/12, and the Strauss Center, for this incredible opportunity.