About

Student-run org under Baskin Engineering focused on all things computer security. All programming comes from students with faculty oversight for leadership. Founded in 2022 after students wanted a community around security. There was a club before us (Security Santa Cruz) but it faded around 2014

TLDR: we do cool stuff with computers

This group is open to all students consistent with state and federal law, the UC Nondiscrimination Statement and the Nondiscrimination Policy Statement for University of California Publications Regarding Student-Related Matters.

What we do

Hang out

Chat about security, ask questions, and share projects on Discord. Find club photos and updates on Instagram

Learn

Learn something new at a workshop, then try it on our Cyber Range. The labs run on our club server rack

Compete

We play Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions together. We also defend networks in CCDC and build embedded systems for MITRE eCTF. See how the competitions work

Club projects

We work on bug bounties, help secure university systems, and hack on routers and IP cameras. Other projects include porting Doom to handheld scanners and reverse engineering alarm systems with radio hardware

Cyber research at UCSC

In 2025, the National Security Agency (NSA) named UC Santa Cruz a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Research (CAE-R). The designation recognizes UCSC's cybersecurity research

Students can learn and collaborate with other CAE-R schools through workshops and research events. UCSC students and alumni can also meet employers at the CAE community's annual virtual career fair

Competitions

Capture the Flag

In most Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions, you work with teammates to solve security puzzles. Find a hidden flag and submit it for points. Challenges cover web security, reverse engineering, cryptography, forensics, and more

New to CTFs? Watch a quick explainer or read CTFd's CTF guide

After a competition, share how you solved a challenge and what you learned. We'd love to see your writeup on our posts page

Cyber Defense

Your team keeps a network running while another team tries to break in. You'll fix security problems, help users, and respond to incidents

We take part in the Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC) in the Western region. Teams look after a simulated company's network while handling business tasks and defending against attacks

Attack / Defend

Build a secure system, then test other teams' designs while they test yours

In MITRE's Embedded Capture the Flag (eCTF), teams build software for a small hardware device using the competition's requirements. Later, they look for security flaws in each other's systems

I'm not a CS major

You're welcome here. Security needs people with all kinds of interests, from art and design to law and hardware

Economics, politics, and art majors have joined our CTF teams and club projects

Member rules

Sponsors

We run security workshops, compete in CCDC and MITRE eCTF, and give students a place to learn by doing

Sponsors help pay for competition travel, equipment, our servers, and events. We also receive support from alumni and university grants

Want to support the club? Email us at slugsec@ucsc.edu

Slug Security operates under The Regents of the University of California, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization (EIN 94-1539563). Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

Our sponsors