Digital Crime Scene Challenge to Return to CyberPatriot VI National Finals Competition

The Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot program announced today the return of the Digital Crime Scene Challenge to its National Finals Competition. This addition to the competition has been made possible by eventPower and the U.S. Cyber Crime Conference.

During the National Finals Competition of CyberPatriot VI, 26 teams will compete in a dynamic forensics exercise that will put competitors’ cyber skills to the test. These students will get experience in the exciting field of cyber forensics through the application of crime scene analysis, evidence gathering, and critical thinking. The cyber crime scene had been a component of CyberPatriot until last year’s sequestration forced its removal from the competition. The U.S. Cyber Crime Conference will be held in the VA/DC/MD area in the spring of 2014.Established by the Air Force Association (AFA), CyberPatriot is the nation's largest and fastest growing high school cybersecurity challenge. Its unique structure provides students with hands-on learning while competing virtually against their peers and introduces many young people to the idea of cybersecurity as a profession. The competition also joins schools across the nation in efforts to bolster student interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) studies.
Teams will begin competing in the competition's preliminary online rounds of competition in October, where they must identify vulnerabilities in simulated computer networks and work to defend those networks from realistic threat scenarios. This year, over 1,000 teams will compete from in all 50states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canada, and DoD schools in Japan, South Korea, and Germany. The competition consists of three rounds that will ultimately determine the 26 finalist teams who win all-expenses-paid trips to the National Finals Competition in Washington, D.C. in March 2014.

"This competition is about academic growth and teaching beyond the fundamental curriculums found in schools," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "The addition of cyber forensics adds an exciting element of education to the competition and allows these high school students to get exposure to another fascinating aspect of cybersecurity. We are enormously grateful to Special Agent (Retired) Jim Christy and the U.S. Cyber Crime Conference for their generous support in returning a valued element of our National Finals Competition."

CyberPatriot is presented by the Northrop Grumman Foundation, with founding partners SAIC and the CIAS at the University of Texas-San Antonio. Other sponsors include Cyber Diamond Sponsors AT&T Federal, Cisco, Microsoft, Raytheon, and USA Today; Cyber Gold Sponsors URS, Splunk, and Symantec; and Cyber Silver Sponsors Air Force Research Laboratory, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, University of Maryland University College, and Embry-Riddle University.

More information is available at www.uscyberpatriot.org or from the CyberPatriot staff at info@uscyberpatriot.org. Register your team before the October 10th deadline to be a part of CyberPatriot VI!