CyberPatriot Announces Teams Advancing to the National Finals Competition

ARLINGTON, Va., Jan. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- After three challenging online qualification rounds, 26 teams of high school students and two teams of middle school students have advanced to the National Finals Competition of the nation's largest youth cyber defense competition – CyberPatriot VI. This year's finalists represent Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and the Manitoba province of Canada.

See the list of finalists here: http://www.uscyberpatriot.org/CP5/CPVI%20Documents/Finalists.pdf

CyberPatriot, an education initiative established by the Air Force Association, is a one-of-a-kind cyber defense competition designed to inspire students toward futures in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. The unique structure helps to prepare students with not only technical skills, but also invaluable experience in teamwork, leadership, and critical-thinking.

During the semifinal round of competition, which was held January 17-19, 2014, 106 teams set out once again to defend virtualized networks of computers, continuing to build knowledge on improving computer networks and strengthening security features. Teams were scored according to how quickly and effectively they established and maintained secure networks.

Each National Finalist team will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to the CyberPatriot VI National Finals Competition at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland, March 26 – 30. Teams will compete to defend virtual networks and mobile devices from a professional aggressor team. The National Finalists will also face-off in three additional competition components: the Digital Cyber Crime Scene Challenge from the U.S. Cyber Crime Conference and the Cisco Networking Challenge, both of which return from previous seasons, and the Leidos Digital Forensics Challenge. These extra challenges will broaden the students' cybersecurity experience and expose teams to new elements of the many career opportunities available to them. 

"The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition provides students an exciting competitive environment in which to acquire the tools to defend enterprises against cyber threats," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "All of this season's teams should be extremely proud of their efforts. We congratulate the CyberPatriot VI national finalists, and look forward to seeing them take on even more demanding challenges at the in-person National Finals in D.C."

The CyberPatriot competition has historically consisted of two high school divisions, with public, private, and home schools competing in the Open Division and Junior ROTC units, Civil Air Patrol squadrons, and Naval Sea Cadet Corps units competing in the All Service Division. This season, however, CyberPatriot invited middle school students to participate in a Middle School Pilot. The top two teams from the Middle School Pilot have been invited to participate at the National Finals Competition. In all, more than 1,500 teams registered to participate in CyberPatriot VI, representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, and U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in both Europe and the Pacific. Over the past three years CyberPatriot has awarded $158,000 in scholarships to the first, second, and third place teams at the National Finals Competition. 

CyberPatriot greatly benefits from the support and technical expertise of its presenting sponsor, the Northrop Grumman Foundation. Other sponsors include Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T Federal and the AT&T Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, Raytheon, USA Today, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Cyber Gold sponsors URS, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Leidos, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and University of Maryland University College.

More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or from the CyberPatriot staff at [email protected].

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Our mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor Airmen and our Air Force Heritage. To accomplish this, we:

• EDUCATE the public on the critical need for unmatched aerospace power and a technically superior workforce to ensure U.S. national security.
• ADVOCATE for aerospace power and STEM education.
• SUPPORT the Total Air Force family and promote aerospace education.

AFA has 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing 100,000 members. Visit AFA at www.afa.org. Follow us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/AirForceAssociation) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/AirForceAssoc).

SOURCE Air Force Association

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