CyberPatriot Announces 2014 National Championship Winners

USA - English

• USA - English

ARLINGTON, Va., March 31, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association announced today the winners of CyberPatriot VI, the sixth season of the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition.

On March 29, 2014, CyberPatriot VI concluded its week-long National Finals Competition at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland. Out of the 621 Open Division teams that originally registered, Team "Azure" of North Hollywood High School from North Hollywood, Calif., was named the division's National Champion. In the All Service Division, out of 872 original registrants, the "Fearsome Falcons" of the Clearfield High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps from Clearfield, Utah, took home the division's National Champion title. Clearfield High School also won the CyberPatriot national championship in the 2009-2010 season, CyberPatriot II. In the Middle School Division, out of 69 team registrants in this inaugural season for the division, the "Cyber Knights" from the Beach Cities Cadet Squadron from San Pedro, Calif., was named the division's first-ever National Champion.

The full list of winning teams for CyberPatriot VI is as follows: 

Open Division: 

National Champion: Team "Azure," North Hollywood High School, North Hollywood, CA
National Champion Runner-Up: Team "V'Ger," Grissom High School, Huntsville, AL
Third Place: Team "Sudo," Summit Technology Academy, Lee's Summit, MO

All Service Division: 

National Champion: Team "Fearsome Falcons," Clearfield High School, Clearfield, UT (Air Force JROTC)
National Champion Runner-Up: Team "Marine Raiders," Montachusett Regional Vocational Technical School, Fitchburg, MA (Marine Corps JROTC)
Third Place: Team "Rodney's House," Patrick Henry High School, San Diego, CA (Navy JROTC)

Middle School Division:

National Champion: Team "Cyber Knights," Beach Cities Cadet Squadron, San Pedro, CA
National Champion Runner-Up: Team "Leathernecks," Marine Military Academy, Harlingen, TX

"The Air Force Association is very proud of every one of our sponsors, coaches, mentors, team assistants, and most of all, all of our competitors for the enormous time and effort put into this season," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "Cybersecurity events--most of them attacks--are in the news every single day. And as cyber threats to our nation continue to grow in sophistication and frequency, we absolutely must develop the next generation of cyber defenders to defeat those threats. Our CyberPatriot competitors have demonstrated throughout this season that they have the skills to meet that challenge. Congratulations to them all!"

The top winners of each division were announced during the CyberPatriot VI Awards Banquet, held Saturday, March 29. The teams' competitors from the high school divisions will collectively receive nearly $50,000 in scholarships from Northrop Grumman. The Northrop Grumman Foundation is CyberPatriot's Presenting Sponsor. Robin "Montana" Williams, the lead for the 44^th President's National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education, delivered the keynote address during the awards banquet, addressing the critical need for a new generation of cyber defenders. Williams is also the chief of the National Cybersecurity Education and Awareness Branch of the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Thomas Murray, Commanding General for Training and Education Command, presented the All Service Division awards and Kathy Warden, Corporate Vice President and President of Northrop Grumman Information Systems, presented the Open Division awards.

CyberPatriot VI kicked off last November with nearly 1,600 teams vying for a chance to compete in the National Finals Competition. All 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, and U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in Europe and the Pacific were represented in the competition. 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 limited middle school pilot program.

After excelling in the season's three online qualification rounds, which challenged teams to identify and fix vulnerabilities in static virtual systems, the CyberPatriot VI National Finalists competed in the final and only in-person round of the season to defend virtual networks from a professional aggressor team made up of cyber security experts from CyberPatriot's industry partners led by the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security at the University of Texas at San Antonio. The National Finalists also faced 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 returned from previous seasons, and the new Leidos Digital Forensics Challenge. These extra challenges help broaden the students' cybersecurity experience and expose teams to new elements of the many career opportunities available to them.

Sponsors of AFA's CyberPatriot program 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.

The Air Force Association also announced that registration for the 2014-2015 season (CyberPatriot VII) is now open, and for the first year, any middle school is welcome to participate along with the traditional field of high school teams. Information on how to register is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or by email, [email protected]. Photos from the event are available at https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVUd4LZ.  

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 100,000 members. Visit AFA at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association