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.