Competition Designed To Encourage Students Interested In Cyber Security

Civil Air Patrol cadet teams will make up one-third of the 12 spots in the All-Services Division finals of CyberPatriot IV, the national high school cyber defense competition. When the two days of national finals begin March 23 at the Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center in Gaylord, Md., CAP will be represented by teams from the:

• Alabama Wing – Springville Composite Squadron.
• Colorado Wing – Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron.
• Ohio Wing – Youngstown ARS Composite Squadron.
• South Dakota Wing – Big Sioux Composite Squadron.

The four teams emerged from Round 3 of the national competition, held Jan. 13-14, along with two teams each from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps junior ROTCs. The qualifying teams will receive all-expenses-paid trips to the finals. Winning team members in the championship round receive scholarships and prizes from CyberPatriot sponsors.

CAP has four teams in the finals because the Springville and Youngstown ARS squadrons’ cadets captured both available wild card slots. Similarly, 13 CAP teams from nine wings accounted for just over one-third of the 38 teams that competed in Round 3, including all seven wild-card slots.

The competition began Oct. 28 with 218 CAP teams participating, 45 percent more than the previous year’s total of 150.

Established by the Air Force Association in 2009, CyberPatriot is designed to inspire students toward careers in cyber security or other science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM, disciplines critical to the nation’s future. CyberPatriot is also presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation with founding partners, the Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC, and the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, or CIAS, at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

As the nation’s premiere cyber defense competition, CyberPatriot is open to all accredited public, private and parochial high schools and registered home school programs in the Open Division, as well as CAP and junior ROTC units from all four military services in the All-Services Division. The high school teams in the Open Division will compete Jan. 27-28 to determine finalists for the parallel competition.

A record 1,019 teams from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Europe, the Pacific and Canada registered to compete in CyberPatriot IV.

CAP's Team Wilson, made up of members from the Orlando Cadet Squadron and other central Florida units, was the 2011 champion. In 2010, CAP teams placed second and third in the national finals.

Teams consist of two to five members and up to five alternates from the same squadron. Competitors must be high school students and at least 13 years old.
During each of the first three rounds, teams are faced with realistic computer network threats at their home locations. Each team has six hours to seek out weaknesses in simulated online networks and work to defend those networks from threat scenarios.

FMI: www.uscyberpatriot.org, www.gocivilairpatrol.com