Slug Security

$1,274

Donated

25% of $5,000 goal

Donors

This campaign ended on July 15, 2026, but you can still make a gift to University of California-Santa Cruz by clicking here!

About

Who We Are

Slug Security is a student org at UC Santa Cruz building a real cybersecurity community. We believe anyone can hack. Not just computer science majors, but anyone with the passion to break things apart and peek behind the curtain.

We keep things open and accessible. Experienced members share what they know, newcomers jump right in, and nobody gets left behind. If you're curious, you're welcome here.

What We Do

Think workshops, social gatherings, and some serious (but fun) competitions. We run hands-on hacking sessions, from capture-the-flag challenges to live demos on topics like reverse engineering and pen-testing. Here's what that looks like:

Interest Groups: Find your focus.
- Malware Analysis Group
- Cyber Operations Group
- Cyber Defense Working Group
- Hardware Hacking Group

Competitions: We compete at the highest levels.
- MITRE eCTF (embedded Capture the Flag Competition)
- NSA Codebreaker Challenge
- NCCDC (National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition)

Practice & Projects: Weekly meetups, CTF practice, and real work like bug bounties and building our cyber range.

Still Not Convinced?

See some of our past highlights:

Securing Big Laundry Systems: We hacked into the largest laundry network in the nation to identify security flaws and report them responsibly. [Read More…]
2nd Place in MITRE eCTF: In our first year, we took 2nd place internationally in MITRE’s Embedded Capture the Flag competition. Our design was one of only two that stood unbreakable, giving our members hands-on experience in building secure systems. [Read More…]
Top 7 in WRCCDC 2023-25: Competing against the best schools on the West Coast, we hit top 10 in Western qualifiers and made regionals. Now we’re building the infrastructure for future teams to go even further.
4th Place in NSA Codebreaker 2023: For four years running, we've ranked top 10 nationally, beating out hundreds of schools. It's proof that Slug Security's community is dedicated.