CyberPatriot Announces 2013 National Championship Winners

ARLINGTON, Va., March 18, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association has announced the winners of CyberPatriot V, the nation's largest and fastest growing high school cyber defense competition.

On March 16, 2013, CyberPatriot V concluded its National Finals Competition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Out of the 419 Open Division teams that originally registered, team "VOID" of Chantilly Academy of Chantilly, Virginia, was the first place winner, taking home the President's Trophy. In the All Service Division, out of 806 original registrants, the "Devil Dogs" of the Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps' Marine Military Academy from Harlingen, Texas, took home first place and the Commander-in-Chief's Cup. The following are all of the top winners for CyberPatriot V:

Open Division:

• 1^st place: VOID from Chantilly Academy, Chantilly, Virginia
• 2^nd place: Flying Bacon from Marshall Academy, Falls Church, Virginia
• 3^rd place: ____ Invaders from Marshall Academy, Falls Church, Virginia

All Service Division:

• 1^st place: Devil Dogs from Marine Military Academy, Harlingen, Texas
• 2^nd place: Marine Raiders from Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, Fitchburg, Massachusetts
• 3^rd place: CyberBears from La Cueva High School, Albuquerque, New Mexico

The top three teams of each division were announced during an awards banquet Saturday evening and will collectively receive $50,000 in scholarships from the Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's Presenting Sponsor. The Foundation has now awarded through CyberPatriot $158,000 in scholarships over the past three years of competition. Secretary of the Air Force Michael B. Donley delivered the keynote address during Saturday's CyberPatriot Awards Banquet, addressing the critical need for a new generation of cyber defenders. Brig. Gen. Burke E. "Ed" Wilson, Deputy Commander, Air Forces Cyber, Fort Meade, Md., presented the All Service Division awards and Kathy Warden, corporate vice president and President, Northrop Grumman Information Systems, presented the Open Division awards.

CyberPatriot V kicked off last October with more than 1,200 teams vying for a chance to compete in the National Finals Competition. All 50 states and U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Europe and the Pacific, and Canada were represented in the two-track competition. Public, private, parochial, and home schools registered in the Open Division, while the All Service Division included students from the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) of all Services, Civil Air Patrol, and the U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps programs. CyberPatriot V also brought an international flavor to the competition with two teams from the Manitoba Province in Canada competing parallel to the American teams as international exhibition teams.

After three on-line preliminary rounds of hands-on cyber security, CyberPatriot finalists had an in-person challenge, competing face to face and defending virtual networks from a professional aggressor team made up of cyber security experts from CyberPatriot's industry partners. New to the final round of competition this year were the Cisco Networking event and the Digital Forensics event, which broadened the cyber security experience and exposed the competitors to two new elements of the many career opportunities available to them.

The Northrop Grumman Foundation also announced at the event that it will continue as the presenting sponsor of CyberPatriot with a $4.5 million, three-year grant to AFA. Other CyberPatriot sponsors include founding partners SAIC and CIAS at the University of Texas-San Antonio, as well as AT&T, Cisco, Microsoft, Raytheon, USA Today Education, Splunk, URS, the Air Force Research Laboratory, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Prescott, Arizona Campus), K2Share, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and the University of Maryland University College. 

Congratulations to all of the finalists! Registration for CyberPatriot VI is now open. For more information on how to register please visit www.uscyberpatriot.org or email [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 more than 105,000 members.  Visit AFA on the internet at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association