Technology
With fastest solver and fourth place for D1 schools, UC Santa Cruz finishes strong at 2025 Codebreaker Challenge
The challenge tasks students to develop their reverse engineering and cryptography skills using a realistic cybersecurity scenario
Image by the National Security Agency
Engineering students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, put up another strong finish at the National Security Agency’s (NSA) 2025 Codebreaker Challenge.
The student team placed fourth among Division I schools, and, for the third consecutive year, computer engineering undergraduate Astra Tsai was the fastest solver among student participants nationwide. Two additional students, Kenneth Lai and Aarav Sharma, finished the challenge.
“Completing the Codebreaker Challenge is a big achievement for our talented students—it reflects their technical skills as well as their quick thinking and intuition,” said Alvaro Cardenas, a professor of computer science and engineering who advises cybersecurity students. “Astra is the MVP of our UC Santa Cruz team, finishing first overall for the third straight year.”
The NSA’s codebreaker challenge tasks students to develop their reverse engineering and cryptography skills using a realistic cybersecurity scenario. Students earn points by solving a series of increasingly difficult coding tasks, which may require students to learn a completely new programming language or network protocol to solve.
At UC Santa Cruz, 111 student participants contributed a total of 251,669 points. Nationwide, more than 6,000 students at 553 schools participated in the 2025 challenge.
Cybersecurity research is a key area of focus at the Baskin School of Engineering. The NSA recently recognized the campus as a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R), highlighting research and educational contributions that advance cybersecurity.