Cyberbit,announced the Hudson’s Bay Company incident response team as winner of the inaugural International Cyber League (ICL) competition, the America’s Cyber Cup, outperforming nearly 100 Security Operations Center (SOC) and incident response teams over the course of four rounds of simulated cyberattack challenges. Hudson’s Bay Company was declared the winner based on quality of performance, and time to response, achieving the title of Best Cyber Defense Team in the Americas.

Led by team captain and Director of Incident Response, Erik Mercado, Hudson’s Bay Company was the only team to achieve a perfect score in each of the four rounds of the ICL: America’s Cyber Cup. Mr. Mercado’s teammates included Incident Response Team Lead, Jorge Lozado, and SOC Analyst, Omer Odabasi. To achieve their newfound title, the team successfully defended a virtual corporate network from three attack scenarios, simulated on the Cyberbit Skills Development Platform. Hudson’s Bay Company was the only team to perform to perfection in every single round, securing a perfect score of 100 in qualifiers (cyber labs), quarterfinals (Coin Miner attack), semifinals (Dragonfly 2017), and finals (WPAD Man in the Middle Fileless Stealth Attack). With each round testing different skills and increasing in difficulty, the perfect performance of Hudson’s Bay Company kept them atop the ICL: America’s Cyber Cup Power Rankings throughout the tournament.

“This win is dedicated to the memory of Chris Birch, our SOC Manager who passed away last month,” said Erik Mercado, Director of Incident Response at Hudson’s Bay Company. “The Hudson’s Bay Company Security Operations Center humbly accepts the title of Best Cyber Defense Team in the Americas, especially as this was our first competition together as a team. Competing alongside so many experienced and excellent cybersecurity professionals was an honor, especially given the complexity of the challenges and the attacks we faced during the ICL: America’s Cyber Cup. Cyberbit always has something new up their sleeves, bringing innovative solutions to help sharpen the minds of blue team security practitioners, keeping us prepared for the real world.”

“The ICL: America’s Cyber Cup experience has been fantastic,” said ICL Director and Director of Product & Strategy at Cyberbit, Steve Burg. “To witness the resilience of these teams as they continued their uphill climb against increasingly complex attack scenarios was a humbling experience as we saw just how well these final six teams performed throughout the competition. To see Hudson’s Bay Company crowned as the Best Cyber Defense Team in the Americas is a testament to their cyber knowledge, skills, and experience, as well as an honor that is truly deserved.”

Performance throughout the ICL showed clear patterns of cyber talent by specific industries. Government & Military institutions showed the strongest performance throughout the competition, followed by consulting and financial services, specifically in scenarios that include advanced capabilities like threat hunting. Transportation, Insurance, Telecom and Health Care were further behind in the competition, indicating that a focus on improving the cyber talent in these sectors would be beneficial.