ARLINGTON, Va., June 2, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association's CyberPatriot program closed registration for its AFA CyberCamp Summer 2016 with a record number of camps scheduled. AFA CyberCamps will be held at 85 locations throughout the nation, reflecting a more than 220% growth from the previous year.

Featured camps include one to be hosted at Texas Women's University, which hosted the first-ever AFA CyberCamp session in June 2014. Additionally, the CyberPatriot Program Office staff will travel to Menlo, California to work with Facebook, a CyberPatriot Silver Sponsor, to host a CyberCamp at the social media giant's headquarters.

AFA CyberCamps were conceived to supplement CyberPatriot's National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, which runs annually from October to March, and to allow educational institutions to engage students in cybersecurity education throughout the year. The AFA CyberCamp curriculum is designed to instruct novice students to learn about cyber ethics, online safety, and the fundamental principles of cybersecurity. AFA's CyberCamp kit consists of instruction modules, demonstration software, and competition software. During these hands-on camps, students will learn important skills in cybersecurity, protecting a network, identifying potential threats, making systems more secure, and protecting themselves on the Internet.

There are no age restrictions on the student participants in the CyberCamp program, but given the curriculum's targeted level of instruction, AFA's CyberPatriot Program Office recommends camps recruit local 7th -12th grade students with little to no previous exposure to cybersecurity.

CyberPatriot, created by the Air Force Association, aims to inspire high school and middle school students to pursue careers in cyber security and other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future. Supporters of CyberPatriot include Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's Presenting Sponsor, as well as Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T and the AT&T Foundation, Cisco, Microsoft, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Secretary of Defense; Cyber Gold sponsors Facebook, Riverside Research, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force Reserve, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Leidos, and University of Maryland University College.

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.

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SOURCE Air Force Association

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