When he was 10, Jarrod Monahan’s grandfather, a computer buff, set the young Monahan’s life on its course. As the senior Monahan worked on laptops, young Jarrod would assist, with his grandfather teaching him the name of every part and what it did. The experience stuck with him, and Monahan, now 20, has chosen computers as his life’s work. He expects to earn his Associate Degree in Cybersecurity from St. Petersburg College at the end of the Summer term, and recently beefed up his resume by being the only Florida student chosen for the first-ever Team USA in the International Cybersecurity Challenge in Athens, Greece. The group came in third overall.

“That’s not bad, considering it was our first year and we’re just one country,” Monahan said. “Europe’s team had participants from 16 countries and Asia had participants from eight, and they came in first and second, respectively.”

Getting there

Making the team was a months-long endeavor. Monahan, who is 20 and attending SPC on a Bright Futures Scholarship, began participating in cybersecurity competitions in the National Cyber League, where last year he landed in the top 200 of 6000 participants. After that performance, Dr. Laura Malave, Chair of SPC’s College of Computer & Information Technology, invited Monahan and other SPC Security Club members to try out to compete with Team USA. He jumped at the chance.

“After the opening challenge, I made it to week two in the top 25 percent,” he said. “I didn’t hear anything for almost a month, but then I found out I had made it to the next level.”

At that point, team hopefuls spent eight weeks solving security challenges before being split into smaller teams and given four days to work together to solve challenges provided by a coach. The first group to find a correct solution was deemed the winner. When the four days were up, the USA organization held a virtual draft day event, where they announced the USA team members. Monahan was thrilled to hear his name announced, and he and his fellow teammates immediately got to work.

“It was a lot of weeks of stress and prep,” Monahan said. “We had a lot of talented people, but before going in, we didn’t know what we’d be defending or what we’d be defending it from. We had a lot of strategy meetings.”

Contestants were challenged to defend a website, which they had to keep up and running while keeping it secure by logging network traffic, setting up a secure firewall and more, as new challenges were constantly thrown at them. He said the entire experience was amazing.

“At the end of the day, it’s meant to be fun,” he said. We showed up, challenged each other and did the very best we could.”

It wasn’t all work, though. Monahan said sponsors of the USA Team paid for his flight and lodging, as well as some fun outings.

“After each day of the competition, we would go out and grab food from street vendors,” Monahan said. “And the organization threw us a beach party with Team Europe and took us sightseeing.”

Monahan said he will continue his studies at SPC, going for a bachelor’s in cybersecurity. He’s also already putting out feelers for internships and jobs.

Malave said Monahan’s place on the US Cyber Team and their third-place finish demonstrates his commitment to months of training, his ability to work as a team with students from across the country, and his technical skills in offensive and defensive Cybersecurity.

“Jarrod has great promise in future Cybersecurity competitions and career,” Malave said. “He will continue to be an amazing competitor and an impressive future Cybersecurity professional.”