Two teams of Carnegie Mellon University undergraduates finished first and second in the finals of the Cybersecurity Awareness Week (CSAW) Capture the Flag competition Nov. 15-17 at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, billed as the world's largest student hacking contest.

The PPP1 team— senior computer science majors Alex Reece, John Davis and Tyler Nighswander and sophomore electrical and computer engineering major Maxime Serrano— was the top finisher. PPP2, which includes sophomore CS majors George Hotz, Robbie Harwood and Ryan Goulden and senior ECE major Garrett Barboza, placed second.

It was the fourth consecutive CSAW win for CMU teams from the Plaid Parliament of Pwning security research group. PPP is ranked number one in the world among Capture the Flag teams for the second year in a row, noted David Brumley, team adviser and an assistant professor of ECE.

Capture the Flag is a test of computer security skills in which teams mount attacks on vulnerable applications and solve offense challenges to earn the most points, or "flags." For more information, see the CSAW website.