“We started the CyberTruck Challenge to bridge the talent gap needed to address cybersecurity concerns within heavy vehicles and the trucking industry. This is critical because our way of life depends on safe, secure, and reliable transportation by truck.”
Forty cybersecurity professionals and students from across the U.S. and the world attended the annual CyberTruck Challenge in Battle Creek, Michigan, June 9.
The challenge, which has no association with Tesla, is an immersive event focused on advancing cyber defense capabilities for commercial vehicles.
Jeremy Daily, associate professor, CSU Department of Systems Engineering is one of the chief organizers of the CyberTruck Challenge event. “We started the CyberTruck Challenge to bridge the talent gap needed to address cybersecurity concerns within heavy vehicles and the trucking industry. This is critical because our way of life depends on safe, secure, and reliable transportation by truck.”
CSU CyberTruck Team 2025
Since its inception in 2017, the CyberTruck Challenge has become the go-to place for cybersecurity students to engage with and learn about the industry – to test their skills on actual trucks. Entry into the challenge is competitive, with only the top 50 or so students accepted. Faculty mentorship from CSU is supported by an OEDIT-funded Opportunity Now Colorado Grant that focuses on developing the systems engineering workforce in Colorado.
“There is no other event like this,” Brian Johnston said, Workforce Development Manager at Innosphere, which is responsible for executing the OEDIT grant.
“Cybersecurity in the automotive industry generally, and the heavy truck industry specifically, are on the cutting edge in terms of both research and implementation.”
During the first part of the week, teams of students learn about the trucking industry and cybersecurity concerns. In the second half of the week, participants perform hands-on and cyber ‘assessments’ of the vehicle to identify potential security challenges.
“There is an identified need for more systems engineers, and these events are one way to both attract and further develop Colorado students in these areas,” Johnston said. “These efforts seem to be working as this year CSU was exceptionally well represented, with eight students participating and several others attending in support roles.”
For Bill Howard, a CSU undergraduate Computer Engineering, this was his first time attending the CyberTruck Challenge.
“I find the cyberphysical interface very interesting as it demonstrates that even if an individual can go ‘off grid’, cybersecurity is still important because it’s connected to all our critical infrastructure,” he said. “I feel like I got a lot of very unique opportunities, to both meet with mentors, like-minded people and other students.”
Several of the students also participated in the CyberTractor Challenge, June 15-20, 2025.
Starting in 2022, the CyberTractor Challenge has become the agricultural equivalent of the CyberTruck Challenge. According to James Johnson, VP and Chief Information Security Officer at Deere & CO, the reason for the challenge is similar to the one that spurred the other CyberChallenge Events — a deficit of adequately trained cybersecurity professionals able to work on today’s complex and high-tech tractors.
“Most college programs can’t keep up with technology and how fast it is moving,” Johnson said. What was initially a Deere & CO-specific event, the challenge is now run by its own 503c3 non-profit and includes other industry peers such as CNH Industrial and AGCO Corporation.
Like the CyberTruck Challenge, the CyberTractor Challenge isa five-day event including classroom instruction where students learn about Controller Area Network security, IoT systems, and embedded software vulnerabilities. These classes are taught by the manufactures’ designers and engineers and other experts in the field. Students are able to use their knowledge from their various backgrounds in engineering or computer science and get hands on with the equipment.
“These events are really eye-opening as to what is happening in the industry,” said Soundarya Sivakumar, a CSU student pursuing an M.S. in electrical and computer engineering who has attended both events. “I really appreciated the mentorship, which I thought was excellent,” she said. “Whenever we got lost, there was someone there to help us, either a mentor from a university or the industry.”
Pipeline into employment and more
Participants said these cyber challenge events provide opportunities not only for skills development, but also for networking and making professional connections.
“One of the hardest things we do in security is to find talent,” Johnson said. “And these events are a great way to foster learning and identify potential new employees.”
“It is a very reciprocal relationship,” Daily said. “These Cyber Challenge events give us the opportunity to forge industry relationships that lead to collaborative research and partnerships. It also helps us appreciate each other’s perspectives and experiences, as well as mutual needs going forward.”
“There is definitely a transition path that has been exercised,” agrees Daily. “Cummins is one of our top sponsors at the CyberTruck Challenge, and I think they’ve hired eight students that have come through this program.
To date, over 100 students have been trained at the CyberTractor Challenge with at least 10 currently working in cyber security roles across agriculture and tech.
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