AFA Congratulates CyberPatriot Teams for ‘Spirited’ Competition

The CyberPatriot IV competition officially began Friday, October 28, 2011, with more than 600 All Service teams registered to aggressively defend virtualized networks of computers, racing against the clock to fortify their simulated systems.

Established by AFA, CyberPatriot is the nation’s largest high school cyber security challenge. This unique competition was designed to give students a hands-on learning experience in cybersecurity and inspire students to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields in their studies.

After six hours of competition this past weekend, the All Service teams have now jumped their first hurdle as they fight their way to the finals. The composite score of the first and second preliminary rounds will determine which teams advance to Round 3 (the Round of 36 teams). Following that, the top 12 qualifying teams then receive all-expenses-paid trips to the CyberPatriot National Championship Competition held in the Washington, DC area, in March 2012.

“It was a spirited first round of competition, where students overcame technical glitches and displayed exceptional performance,” said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. “We congratulate all of them on a job well done! This round saw the most students competing at one time than we’ve ever had. We hope the competitors had a great time and will be ready to compete again in round two.”

Timmerman Composite Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, Wisconsin Wing,
competing in the first preliminary round of CyberPatriot IV!

Preliminary rounds for the competition are conducted online from the teams’ home locations. The next round for the All Service teams will start on December 2, while the Open Division begins competing on November 4.