National High School Cyber Security Competition Draws 1,200+ Teams, Reaches All 50 States

ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association announced today that CyberPatriot–the National High School Cyber Defense Competition--has drawn 1,225 teams as registration closed October 6th. The competition has teams representing all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Department of Defense Dependent Schools in both Europe and the Pacific, and Canada.

Established by the Air Force Association (AFA), CyberPatriot is the nation's largest and fastest growing high school cyber security challenge. 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. CyberPatriot helps to prepare college- and career-ready students with not just technical skills, but also invaluable experience in teamwork, leadership, and critical-thinking.

CyberPatriot also offers support and technical expertise from industry leaders, including CyberPatriot's presenting sponsor the Northrop Grumman Foundation.

"We simply must attract more bright young students to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and we believe we have hit on a unique way of doing that through an exciting high school cyber competition," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "CyberPatriot is a great opportunity, with its reach, to promote STEM education and careers to today's youth in America. It's an amazing competition that is accessible to all, especially the many disadvantaged youth, giving participants a new venue for academic and personal growth."

Teams are now gearing up for the first preliminary online round of competition, which begins November 2 for the All Service Division and November 16 for the Open Division. The competition is powered by SAIC's CyberNEXS, which allows hundreds of teams across the country to compete at one time. Once the preliminaries begin, teams compete online to identify and solve vulnerabilities in simulated computer networks. The top teams compete again in two additional online rounds to determine 26 finalist teams who win all-expenses-paid trips to Washington, D.C. and the National Finals Competition in Washington, D.C. in March 2013.

CyberPatriot's founding partners are SAIC and the CIAS at the University of Texas-San Antonio. 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 more than 108,000 members.  Visit AFA at www.afa.org.

SOURCE Air Force Association