What exactly is The National Cyber League Players Committee?

You have just discovered the National Cyber League's bi-annual Capture the Flag event. You may be excited to participate, or perhaps you are feeling a bit nervous and experiencing imposter syndrome. You search for resources, guides, and people who can help you get started. You have heard the phrase "NCL Players Committee" and are curious to learn more.

You have come to the right place. The NCL Players Committee is a group of experienced players who are passionate about helping all players succeed. We have a long history of providing helpful blog posts, tutorials, and live coaching sessions. Our goal is to provide you with the resources and guidance you need to feel confident competing in the CTF event and beyond.

We are your mentors, cheerleaders, and advocates. We have been where you are, and we know what it takes to succeed. We are here to help you every step of the way.

Brief History

To better understand the who, what, and how of the NCL Players Committee, let's take a brief look at our history.

The Players Committee began in 2017 with a single member, Kait Bestenheider, who goes by the online alias CryptoKait. She had a vision of making a difference in the field of cybersecurity education through gamified learning. She began by creating a blog called cryptokait, where she shared her knowledge and expertise with others.

Shortly after launching her blog, Kait decided to expand the Players Committee by bringing on more players to help create content. These new members were called the Player Ambassadors. The Player Ambassadors worked with Kait to create blog posts, tutorials, and live coaching sessions. They also represented players at conferences and events.

Over the years, the Players Committee has grown and evolved. We have gained new members and lost a few along the way. But through it all, we have remained committed to our mission of helping players succeed in the National Cyber League cybersecurity competitions and beyond.

We are still advocates for players, just as we were when we were first starting out. We still create live coaching calls for beginners, and we still write blogs full of helpful tips and tutorials. We also coach players at conferences and events, and we do our very best to set players up for success in the games and beyond.

We are proud of our history and our accomplishments. We are also excited about the future and the impact we can continue to make on the cybersecurity community.

Who are they?

This is a brief introduction to the current active Players Committee members, if you’d like to read more please navigate to our bios or even better, ask us any questions you’d like that aren’t “How do I solve an active challenge” in the Discord channel! The current bios page is Here.

• Meredith - MistressVen0m

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MistressVen0m

• Paul - PressSpace2Hack

Web: https://pressspacetohack.com/ | Twitter: @PressSpace2Hack

• Norma - Hush1e

Twitter: @Hush1e | LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/norma-depriest/ | Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/norma.depriest.503

• Eric - 0x600DF00D

• Angela - Root007

And we have a few on break from duties or who have retired:

CryptoKait, Wolfshirtz, WebWitch, ghostinth3machine, Aspen, Chris, Zer0trail, Taisa, Fred, Jonathan, JeanaByte, & Mako

The contributions of current as well as past members have helped immensely in providing guides and webinars, to name a few tasks that fulfilled the mission and vision of what this Players Committee was created for, to help the players succeed in the National Cyber League and beyond.

What do they do?

We used to answer your questions on Slack, but we now do so on Discord. This is because we all need to keep up with technology, and many of us are gamers who already use Discord. But what else do we do?

• WiCyS CTF

• Blogs

Our blogs are all hosted in Cyberskyline's Trove. You can find the current content here: https://trove.cyberskyline.com/. We will be adding more content soon, so stay tuned!

• Webinars

The National Cyber League (NCL) has offered a variety of beginner webinars since its inception. It is important to note that the NCL 101 webinars are created and hosted by the Players Committee for beginner players. The Cyberskyline 101 webinars, on the other hand, are created and hosted by Franz Payer and go into more in-depth detail. Therefore, if you find yourself in an NCL 101 webinar and the content is already familiar to you, please browse over to the CS101 webinars to learn even more and prepare for the next NCL season.

You can find recordings of both the NCL 101 and CS101 webinars on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/@NationalCyberLeague. During the gym portion of the active season, you can also find some webinars in the guide portion of the challenges.

How can I join this awesome team?

If you have read this far and are interested in becoming a part of the Players Committee, you can find the interest form below. We have it open all year, but we only make selections during the off-season. So, take the plunge just like you did when you first competed in NCL, fill out the form, and tell us about yourself and how you would like to contribute as a Players Committee Member.

The link to the form is: https://forms.gle/CNxGRuum4KS3eQAY9

©2023 Norma DePriest aka ~Hush1e~ | National Cyber League Players Committee | West Virginia University Parkersburg Professor & Cyber League Coach/Advisor