Seton Hall University’s Cybersecurity Club will represent the university in the 2026 Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, which is scheduled for March 7–8 in Washington, DC. The team will participate virtually, joining students from around the world to address a simulated international cyber crisis.
The event is organized by the Atlantic Council through its Cyber Statecraft Initiative. It challenges student teams to create policy recommendations in response to a fictional but realistic cyber incident. Participants are required to analyze threats as they develop, consider both national and international consequences, and present their strategies to a panel of experts from government, industry, and academia.
This year’s Seton Hall team includes students from IT Management, Finance and Technology, and Physics. This interdisciplinary approach aligns with the competition’s focus on collaboration across technical, policy, and strategic fields. The team’s varied academic backgrounds allow them to tackle complex scenarios from multiple perspectives—an important skill set for responding to cybersecurity crises that involve not only technology but also financial systems, regulations, geopolitics, and risk communication.
Eric Lopez, director of IT Security at Seton Hall and faculty advisor to the club, said: “Through our Cybersecurity Club, students regularly sharpen their technical skills in a collaborative environment where they are also able to network with their peers and professionals in the cybersecurity industry. However, the Cyber 9/12 competition takes them a step further. It puts them in the role of national decision-makers, balancing law, policy, communication and risk in real time. That experience turns talented technologists into well-rounded cybersecurity leaders, which is exactly what the workforce needs today.”
The Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge is now in its fifteenth year globally. Each year it involves more than 1,000 students and has expanded with regional competitions across the United States and internationally. Seton Hall first entered the competition in 2022. Since then its teams have advanced in previous years and received recognition for their policy analysis.
In recent competitions Seton Hall has built a strong record. In 2024 its team reached the semifinals among the top sixteen globally and was recognized for an advisory report presented to the United Nations. In 2025 Seton Hall again competed at the Washington event as part of its ongoing involvement in international cyber policy discussions.
As this year’s team prepares for another appearance at Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, their participation highlights Seton Hall’s continued efforts to prepare students not just to understand cyber threats but also to lead effective responses at high levels of decision-making.
