This weekend, nearly 50 students will put their skills to the test during a 2 day competition called IslanderHack, lessons that could lead straight to future jobs.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — In today’s digital world, hacking into a system can sometimes be a lot easier than you think and it can happen to anyone. We saw this when Nueces County fell victim to a phishing scam, losing more than $2 million. Luckily, they were able to get that money back.

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But at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi, Islander students are using their hacking knowledge for good. They’re turning code into creativity as they gear up for the campus’s IslanderHack event, a weekend dedicated to building, innovating, and protecting.

Hacking and cybersecurity aren’t just buzzwords, they’re skills you can learn at the campus. And this weekend, nearly 50 students will put those skills to the test during a 36-hour competition called IslanderHack, lessons that could lead straight to future jobs protecting major companies.

When you think about someone hacking into a network, student Ellie Bell probably isn’t the first person you’d picture behind the keyboard.

“We are just a group of excited nerds that are constantly struggling together and exposing each other to technology,” said Bell, a member of the Islander Cyber Society.

Using a computer, online software, and critical thinking, Bell showed how easy it can be to track other devices just by connecting to the school’s Wi-Fi.

“You can see people’s names, Hailey, Morgan, Ivy, Emily, Vivian, because people name their devices. I can see their MAC address, IP address. This is all the devices connected to the school network,” she explained.

And no one is off limits.

From there, Bell said with a little more work, everything from usernames to passwords could be up for grabs.

“I can’t show you this because that would be breaking some laws, but I could spoof or fake that I am the router to your phone so then your phone talks to me asking for Google, your banking,” she said.

However, Bell and other cybersecurity students, like Umaiza Azmat, say their skills are meant to educate and protect.

“There’s always that stigma that it’s just coding and super isolated. In reality, cybersecurity is more teamwork and a people job. At the end of the day, our goal is to secure systems,” said Azmat.

As scammers grow smarter with artificial intelligence, companies must keep up. The students shared a few simple ways to stay protected.

“For example, don’t use free Wi-Fi as long as you know it’s secure,” Azmat said.

“A VPN is the best way to protect yourself specifically against this attack,” Bell added.

These future cyber defenders are building the skills that could power tomorrow’s tech industry.

“Our job as defenders is to make sure our people are safe and are aware of those signs spam emails, the phishing, any sort of intrusion techniques,” said Azmat.

Some major companies are backing the upcoming hacking event, including CITGO and Tesla.

And it’s no wonder the cyber team at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi currently ranks first in the state and 13th in the nation in the National Cyber League.