To better prepare our team for upcoming Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) seasons, I developed and implemented a refreshed 8-week training curriculum. The goal was to give each team member hands-on, role-specific experience while emphasizing the technical and collaborative skills essential for success during live-fire competitions.
8-Week Training Structure
Week 1: Introduction & Role Assignment
Kickoff session covering the format of CCDC, expectations, and assigning specific roles (e.g., Windows admin, Splunk lead, team captain).
Week 2: Users & Accounts
Managing user permissions, enforcing password policies, and securing group/user privileges through best practices.
Week 3: Networking Essentials
Deep dive into firewalls, port management, and configuring allow/deny lists to reinforce perimeter defenses.
Week 4: Team Building – Escape Room
A themed escape room exercise designed to challenge communication, problem-solving, and teamwork under pressure — simulating the fast-paced coordination needed during real-world incident response.
Week 5: Services & System Hardening
Identifying critical services, disabling unnecessary or malicious ones, and recognizing service-based persistence threats.
Week 6: Log Analysis
Training in event log interpretation, filtering techniques, and identifying indicators of compromise.
Week 7: Team Building 2 – Paintball
High-energy offsite event designed to simulate the chaos and coordination needed during live red team attacks.
Week 8: Live Test Environment
Full simulation of a CCDC-style event with injected threats and scoring loops to test retention and performance under pressure.
This training refresh gives new and returning members a structured pathway to gain relevant experience, deepen their technical skill sets, and build confidence working together in high-pressure environments.