Lake Washington Institute of Technology’s (LWTech) computer security and network technology (CSNT) program recently placed fourth out of more than 530 colleges and universities at the National Security Agency’s (NSA) Codebreaker Challenge online competition.

LWTech students in the CSNT program gain skills to build careers in the computer technical support industry. The hands-on 15-month program covers a wide variety of information technology (IT) training, including troubleshooting physical and virtual networks, operating systems and data security. Students train for current and future IT challenges and learn what it takes to build a successful career in the growing, in-demand field of IT.

The competition included various tasks for students to achieve increasingly difficult and complex intelligence capabilities.

“A hands-on opportunity to develop their reverse-engineering/low-level code analysis skills while working on a realistic problem set centered around the NSA’s mission,” the NSA stated in a release.

“This is a great achievement for our computer security and network technology program,” Dr. Amy Morrison, president of LWTech, said in the release. “This is only the second year LWTech students have participated in this challenge. I’m so proud of how they successfully applied what they’ve learned in the classroom to a real-world scenario.”

To learn more about LWTech’s CSNT program, visit tinyurl.com/wq93moq.

To learn more about the NSA Codebreaker Challenge, visit tinyurl.com/nob6ozv.