St. John’s cybersecurity team advances to regional finals for second time
For the first time since 2019, St. John’s University’s cybersecurity team, STJCyberStorm, has advanced to the regional finals of the Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (NCCDC). This marks only the second time in the university’s history that its team has reached this stage.
The team consists of 11 undergraduate and graduate students from St. John’s. They secured their place among the top 10 teams at a qualifying event held on January 31 at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Massachusetts. The regional finals are scheduled for March 20–22 at Middlesex Community College, where they will compete for a spot in the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition set for late April in San Antonio, Texas.
“It is an outstanding achievement that we look forward to building on,” said Rahul S. Karnik ’93SVC, ’96MBA, Adjunct Instructor in the Department of Business Analytics and Information Systems at The Peter J. Tobin College of Business and Coach of STJCyberStorm. “Our students demonstrated not only strong skills, but also professionalism and resilience throughout the competition. Their hard work and preparation paid off.”
The NCCDC is organized by the Northeast Collegiate Cyber Defense League, which includes 35 colleges and universities from New York and New England. The league was established in 2007 to promote interest in cybersecurity careers and help institutions evaluate students’ abilities to protect computer networks and business systems.
During the competition, college teams are tasked with securing, managing, and maintaining a simulated corporate network under active attack conditions. This format allows participants to develop incident response strategies, system defense techniques, teamwork skills, and effective communication under pressure—experience valued by employers.
St. John’s University previously reached regionals only once before—in 2019—since the league began hosting competitions in 2008.
Teams earned points based on service availability, detection and reporting of security incidents, and defending against attempts to exploit network vulnerabilities.
STJCyberStorm trains using resources such as the Sanford Family Cyber Security Lab located in St. Augustine Hall on campus. The team regularly participates in national competitions; last year it finished 15th out of 91 teams at the VIVID Cyber Competition Live Finals.
In November, team members Lucas and Alyssa Meczkowska placed third among 19 teams at a Capture the Flag event hosted by Hofstra University and received a $2,000 prize. In October, Lucas joined Alyssa Meczkowska, Ayaan Bhattai, Thomas Helton, and captain Gabriel Paredas to finish third out of more than 50 teams at BSides NYC cybersecurity conference.
“Our success speaks to the fact that there is a strong culture of mentorship, collaboration, and hands-on practice with cybersecurity at St. John’s,” said Alyssa Meczkowska who will graduate this May with a bachelor’s degree in computer science. “This environment has allowed us to thrive as a team.”
St. John’s University operates campuses in Queens and Manhattan as well as international sites in Rome, Paris, and Limerick according to its official website. The university supports various multicultural initiatives through its centers focused on local and global efforts (source). It offers over 100 undergraduate majors across six schools (source) as part of its mission as a Catholic Vincentian institution dedicated to liberal arts education (source). Rev. Brian J. Shanley serves as president (source).
