Midshipmen 1st Class Justin Monroe, of Rome, N.Y., and Christopher Wheeler, of Cazenovia, N.Y., defeated 11 other teams participating in the challenge, scoring more than twice as many points as the second place team.

Both midshipmen are dual computer science⁄information technology majors who will serve as surface information warfare officers after graduating in May.

Competitors included teams from the U.S. Military Academy, the Defense Information Systems Agency, U.S. Army Intelligence and Security Command, the Department of Homeland Security and Northrop Grumman, among others. Each of the 12 competing teams was tasked with trying to attack their opponents’ networks, while defending their own network from attack. Each team could earn points by hacking into their competitor’s computers and would lose points for each time their own systems were compromised.

‘‘This is a great honor for both USNA and these midshipmen, a testament to the breadth and depth of the technical education they have received while at the academy,” said Dr. Andrew Phillips, Naval Academy academic dean and provost. ‘‘We are incredibly proud of their accomplishment.”

Dr. Michael Piller of the NDU faculty further noted that ‘‘equally impressive to their skill were the midshipmen after winning. They stood tall as exceptionally talented yet gracious winners, and thoughtfully added to the discussion immediately following the event.”

Monroe and Wheeler are co-founders of the academy’s new Cyber Warfare Activity, an organization established this year to explore and develop methods of offensive and defensive cyber warfare. It is designed to allow working groups of midshipmen interested in cyber security issues to talk to subject matter experts in the field.

The Cyber Warfare Activity is one of many new academy initiatives designed to expose midshipmen to the field of cyber security. Other initiatives include developing a curriculum of cyber security-related courses, the establishment of a Center for Cyber Security Studies and increasing the number of internship options for midshipmen at both the National Security Agency and the NDU.

‘‘We’re proceeding to put in place educational and professional experiences at different levels,” Phillips said at a recent meeting of the Board of Visitors. ‘‘It requires considerable integration among several disciplines. The Center for Cyber Security Studies is the framework for getting all these activities moving in the same direction and with the same purpose.”