National Youth Cyber Security Challenge Draws in More Than 1,000 Teams

October 18, 2011 · Filed Under Software News · Comment 

CyberPatriot IV, the National High School Cyber Defense Competition, has now drawn in 1,019 teams as registration closed October 8. The competition has teams representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in both Europe and the Pacific.

Established by the Air Force Association (AFA), CyberPatriot is the nation’s largest and fastest growing high school cyber security challenge. Last year’s competition had more than 660 teams vying for a chance to compete among the top qualifying teams. Its unique structure provides students hands-on learning while competing virtually against their peers and introduces many to the idea of cyber security as a profession.

Teams are now preparing for preliminary online rounds of competition, which begin October 28 for the All Service Division and November 4 for the Open Division. Once the preliminaries begin, hundreds of teams compete online to solve vulnerabilities in simulated computer networks. The top teams compete again in two additional online rounds to determine 24 finalist teams who win all-expenses-paid trips to Washington, D.C. and the National Finals Competition in Washington, D.C. in March 2012. Read more

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National High School Cyber Defense Competition Registering Teams for Fall

August 17, 2010 · Filed Under Internet Software, Security Software, Software News · Comment 

Exciting Education Initiative Offers Teens Insight to Cyber Careers

The registration deadline is looming to participate in the nation’s premier high school cyber defense competition, CyberPatriot III.

“Our unique online competition still has room for teams,” said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. “To join, a high school teacher signs up and signs on five bright students for a fun, hands-on learning opportunity. It’s a great chance for the top teams to win scholarship money and a trip to Washington, D.C.”

CyberPatriot, presented by Northrop Grumman, is the one-of-a-kind national cyber security competition produced by the Air Force Association (AFA), a nonprofit organization headquartered near Washington, D.C. The registration deadline is October 8, 2010.

Teams of five, with an approved coach (generally a teacher) sponsoring them, learn to defend a computer network from real-life computer threat scenarios. In the fall, hundreds of teams across the nation will square off online, using special software and programs provided by CyberPatriot, to competitively solve vulnerabilities in their network. The top teams then compete again in a series of online rounds to determine finalists for an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation’s capital and the Championship Round at the Gaylord National Convention Center, in conjunction with AFA’s Cyber Futures Symposium and Technology Exposition in April of 2011. Read more

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