More than 9,200 students, faculty and staff across the state celebrated National Cybersecurity Awareness Month (NCSAM) by playing the second annual Cyber Bowl. Throughout October, NC State’s Office of Information Technology (OIT) hosted the event in collaboration with seven universities all competing for the title of Cyber Bowl champion.

During last year’s inaugural competition, NC State went up against Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill, who ultimately took home the title. The success of the first event drew five more schools to join in 2025 — UNC Wilmington, North Carolina A&T, East Carolina University, Winston-Salem State University and Elizabeth City State University.

Final Scores

Participants completed a five-question quiz to learn about cybersecurity and earn points for their school. Elizabeth City State was named this year’s champion with an impressive 26.25% of their total population playing, and Winston-Salem State coming in a close second with 24.84%. In terms of total participants, NC State was just behind UNC-Chapel Hill with 1,714 players versus 1,977.

School	Percentage	Total Participants
Duke University	4.34%	1347
East Carolina University	.95%	309
Elizabeth City State University	26.25%	748
N.C. A&T	3.07%	869
NC State	3.44%	1714
UNC-Chapel Hill	4.21%	1977
UNC Wilmington	4.20%	860
Winston-Salem State University	24.84%	1391

From Friendly Competition to Critical Awareness

NCSAM is an annual initiative that empowers individuals to protect themselves online. At NC State, protecting yourself means protecting our whole community. Just like the Cyber Bowl, cybersecurity is a team sport. Each of us has an important role to play in securing our devices and data from cyberattacks.

“Cybersecurity is a shared responsibility and is vital for safeguarding all our data. It requires a community that is educated on common threats and best practices,” said Chief Information Security Officer Mardecia Bell. “Our goal was to make this education both engaging and impactful by channeling the energy of school rivalries to promote cybersecurity awareness.”

The collaborative effort between all eight participating universities made it possible to grow the competition and reach a larger audience. In addition to NC State acting as host, UNC-Chapel Hill took the lead on developing visual and written promotional materials while each school helped draft questions and test the website.

“Our Cyber Bowl campaign has achieved fantastic growth over the last two years, successfully building strong connections and fostering engagement among North Carolina universities. We plan to leverage this newly developed network to find more effective ways to reach our campus community,” said Gabriella Ferguson, IT trainer and instructional material designer for OIT Outreach, Communications and Consulting.

Partners, Prizes and Plans for 2026

All NC State participants were entered to win prizes and five winners were chosen at random. This year’s prizes included Meta glasses, Arts NC State event tickets and swag bags.

The 2025 Cyber Bowl was supported by program partners Cisco and the NC State Department of Computer Science and ePartners Program.

Plans are in the works for next year’s Cyber Bowl, with additional schools interested in joining the field.

“While we didn’t win the competition this year, we’re taking those lessons learned straight into Cyber Bowl 2026,” said Ferguson. “We’re confident that we can bring home the win next year and are excited to welcome even more schools to join us.”