James D. Andres, of Surprise, was among a team of three University of Scranton (Pennsylvania) students who recently won first place among a field of international competitors in a cybercrime investigation challenge in Europe.

Andres is a cybercrime and homeland security major at Scranton.

Scranton’s three-person team made history. In six years of the White Hat Conference, it was the first U.S. team to place first in the cybercrime investigation capture-the-flag challenge that included student and practitioner teams.

Andres was among nine Scranton students who participated in a study abroad program in Spain, which provided an exploration of the country’s criminal justice and security systems and admission into the 2025 White Hat Conference.

The theme of this year’s conference, which was held June 9 to 11 at the University of Leon, Spain, was “AI, Cybercrime and Cyber Defense.”

The conference and competition were sponsored by Boston University’s Center for Cybercrime Investigation and Cybersecurity in partnership with the University of Leon and the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute. The CTF challenge was a web security exercise that tasked participants with finding hidden pieces of text or code.

Through the course of the events, led by Department of Criminal Justice, Cybersecurity and Sociology professors Michael Jenkins and Sinchul Back, the students visited several key institutions, gaining a comprehensive understanding of Spain’s criminal justice and national security systems.

In addition to hearing from internationally regarded researchers, lawyers and practitioners, students visited the National Police Central Cybercrime Unit, the Constitutional Court, Lazarus (a private cybersecurity firm) and the INCIBE, plus had opportunities to participate in various cultural events in Madrid

The university’s first-place team was comprised of Andres; Michael O’Donnell, a cybercrime and homeland security major from Old Lyme, Connecticut; and Leah Schneider, a criminal justice major from Middle Village, New York.

The University of Scranton is a Jesuit university located in northeastern Pennsylvania.