Cybersecurity Club
About the Detroit Mercy Cybersecurity Club
Open to all majors, the Detroit Mercy Cybersecurity Club, sponsored by the Detroit Chapter of ISACA, is an opportunity for students to delve deeper into computers and cybersecurity by exploring topics including:
- Network security
- Digital forensics
- Penetration testing
- Secure coding
- Cryptography
- Reverse engineering
Club Goals
The goal of the Cybersecurity Club is help students take the knowledge they have learned from their classes and help them apply this knowledge to better prepare them for internships and full-time jobs. The club also participates in cybersecurity competitions, including the ISACA Detroit Chapter Cybersecurity Scholarship Case Competition and the National Cyber League, presented by Cyber Skyline.
Club Officers
The Detroit Mercy Cybersecurity Club holds annual elections for officers. To self-nominate, send an email to Gregory Laidlaw at laidlags@udmercy.edu and Anne Kohnke at kohnkean@udmercy.edu. The Cybersecurity Club officers for Academic Year 2023-2024 are:
- President: Harrison Haviland-Longo, havilahs@udmercy.edu
- Vice President: Ali Laho, lahoal@udmercy.edu
- Secretary: Hannah Burdinie, burdinhr@udmercy.edu
Faculty Advisors
- Gregory Laidlaw, DMIT, CISSP, C|EH, laidlags@udmercy.edu
Department Chair, Cybersecurity & Information Systems and Lecturer - Anne Kohnke, Ph.D., kohnkean@udmercy.edu
Director, Detroit Mercy Center of Cyber Security & Intelligence Studies
Principal Investigator, Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Program
Recent Club Member Achievements
Cybersecurity Teams Win Prestigious ISACA Scholarship Case Competition
On April 16, 2023, students from the University of Detroit Mercy won first, second and third place in the 9th Annual Detroit Chapter ISACA Cybersecurity Scholarship Case Competition. The competition, open to all majors, awarded $13,500 in scholarships at this event.
A record of 21 teams from four universities took part with a total of six teams winning from UDM, Oakland University and Eastern Michigan University.
- Taking first place was Cybersecurity & Information Systems students, Preston Duller, JP Martin and Mark Formosa, Business Administration.
- Second-place winners were Aaron Hewins, Cybersecurity & Information Systems, and Alexander Kalaj, Business Administration.
- Third place winner was Harrison Haviland-Longo, Cybersecurity & Computer & Information Systems.
The event was hosted in Detroit Mercy's Center for Cyber Security & Intelligence Studies, with Director Anne Kohnke and Department Chair Greg Laidlaw.
1st place team with ISACA Organizer, from left: Mark Formosa, Sajay Rai, JP Martin and Preston Duller
Greg Laidlaw, Ph.D. with Aaron Hewins (2nd Place Winner)
3rd Place Winner: Harrison Haviland-Longo
NICE Challenge Cybersecurity Competition students achieve highest score, highest number of resolved systems and third place
Three Cybersecurity & Information Systems majors spent four hours on Wednesday, April 12, competing to win and helped pilot the newly developed NICE Challenge Cybersecurity Competition. This real-world technical challenge involved sifting through company emails to find clues in order to quickly fix several compromised systems and user IDs that were hacked. Achieving the highest score was Adam Dobiesz, with Harrison Haviland-Longo achieving the highest number of resolved systems. Coming in at 3rd place was Matthew Davidson. The competition was organized by Detroit Mercy's Director of the Center of Cyber Security & Intelligence Studies and Associate Professor of Cybersecurity Anne Kohnke.
UDM Student Team places third in the NCAE Cyber Games Midwest Competition
Organized by Detroit Mercy’s Cybersecurity & Information Systems Department, 12 students, forming two Blue teams (cyber defenders) worked on Saturday to win the NCAE Cyber Games Competition, with one of our teams taking third place. To score points, students are initially given a compromised network to fix while defending over a dozen network services whilst being hacked by the organizer’s Red team throughout a 7-hour period. Third place winners were Ethan Scheys (Team Captain), Preston Duller, JP Marvin, Eyiara Oladipo, Ayanna Mendieta, Nouman Ahmed and Aaron Hewins. Scoring a respectable overall finish, students on UDM’s second team were John Weglarz (Team Captain), Noah Segal, Charlie Lipka, Alicia Norman and Rex VanPelt. Serving as coaches were Anne Kohnke, Greg Laidlaw, and Harrison Haviland-Longo. This competition was open to Centers of Academic Excellence (CAE) designated schools and students who’ve never previously competed in a cyber competition.
