CyberPatriot VI National Finals Competition

CyberPatriot teams across the country are celebrating success after competing in the CyberPatriot VI National Finals Competition last week.

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. 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 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.

“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 banquet was on the heels of a long day of competitions, where CyberPatriot competitors had 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 teams 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.

Team VPN Tunnel Snakes from Sisler High School in Winipeg, MB (Canada) complete the Digital Cyber Crime Scene Challenge. Photo Credit: Student photo by Jose Ruiz, Art Institute of Washington

This year's national finals also had a few special appearances, with former Secretary of State Colin Powell met with Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner, and toured the competition hall.

Colin Powell speaks with Team Panthers from Bossier City, LA, as they participate in the Master Challenge. Photo credit: Student photo by Jose Ruiz, Art Institute of Washington

Additionally, Robin "Montana" Williams, the lead for the 44th 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.

CyberPatriot VI was the largest CyberPatriot competition yet, kicking off last November with nearly 1,600 teams registered. 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.

Now CyberPatriot VII promises to be even bigger. registration for the 2014-2015 season 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, info@cyberpatriot.org. Photos from the event are available at https://flic.kr/s/aHsjVUd4LZ.