CCDC Rules

The following are the approved national rules for the CCDC season. Please refer to the official rules for your specific CCDC event for any local variations.

Throughout these rules, the following terms are used:

  • Gold Team/Operations Team – competition officials that organize, run, and manage the competition.
  • White Team – competition officials that observe team performance in their competition area and evaluate team performance and rule compliance.
  • Red Team – penetration testing professionals simulating external hackers attempting to gain unauthorized access to competition teams’ systems.
  • Black Team – competition support members that provide technical support, pick-up and deliver communications, and provide overall administrative support to the competition.
  • Blue Team/Competition Team – the institution competitive teams consisting of students competing in a CCDC event.
  • Team Captain – a student member of the Blue Team identified as the primary liaison between the Blue Team and the White Team.
  • Team Co-Captain – a student member of the Blue Team identified as the secondary or backup liaison between the Blue Team and the White Team, should the Team Captain be unavailable (i.e. not in the competition room).
  • Team representatives – a faculty or staff representative of the Blue Team’s host institution responsible for serving as a liaison between competition officials and the Blue Team’s institution.

Read the full CCDC Rules document here.

Midwest Teams Prepare for Qualifying State CCDC

For the 2025 competition season, a record number of Midwest teams are anticipated. Over forty teams are expected to engage in a qualifying state CCDC event.

11/09/2024 – Invitational

11/16/2024 – Invitational

12/07/2024 – Invitational


1/25/25 – IN/MN Qualifier

2/08/25 – OH/MI/KY/IA Qualifier

2/15/25 – IL/MO/WI Qualifier 

2/22/25 – Wildcard Qualifier


3/14-15/2025 – MWCCDC Regional


4/25-27/2025 – National CCDC


All second place teams in their respective state qualification CCDC will have opportunity to compete in the Wildcard CCDC. Top winners of each state CCDC and the Wildcard CCDC will be eligible to move on the the Erich J. Spengler Midwest Regional CCDC, March 14-15, 2025.