Security · Completed
FCS Cybersecurity Competition
Defended a live network on FSW's blue team at the Florida College System Cybersecurity Competition. Our team placed 14th statewide.
Blue teamWazuhArkimeSIEMPacket analysisIncident response
The event
The Florida College System Cybersecurity Competition puts college teams in charge of defending a live network over several days while it's under attack. Teams have to keep services running, detect intrusions, and respond in real time.
Preparation
I was new to blue team work going in. Starting Oct 1, I trained on SkillBit Labs' blue-team path and put my ahead-of-schedule coursework on hold to focus on prep.
What I did
- Wazuh (SIEM/XDR): monitored alerts and host activity to spot suspicious behavior.
- Arkime: searched captured network traffic (full packet capture) to investigate what was happening on the wire.
- Worked with my team to triage and respond to activity under time pressure.
Takeaways
We placed 14th in the state. My biggest lesson was how much faster a defender is when they already know their tools. Since then I've been going deeper on Wazuh and Arkime, and on Velociraptor for endpoint forensics.
What it shows: real hands-on time in a SOC-style environment with industry tools, and learning quickly under pressure.