ARLINGTON, Va, Feb. 25, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Air Force Association (AFA) announced the 28 national finalist teams that will compete at the CyberPatriot XI National Finals Competition in Baltimore, Md., April 8-10, 2019. Teams will travel all-expenses-paid to compete for the National Championship title, scholarships, and other national recognition.
The 12 Open Division, 13 All Service Division, and three Middle School Division National Finalist teams advanced through extremely competitive online qualifying rounds to earn their places in the final round of competition.
A full list of National Finalists can be found here.
“This CyberPatriot National Finals Competition marks a special milestone of AFA's flagship STEM program,” said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot’s National Commissioner. “AFA is thrilled to welcome 28 very special teams of talented young cyber defenders to the culminating event of this eleventh season of CyberPatriot. Each of them has earned the honor of being a National Finalist by distinguishing themselves as the best of the best in the most competitive competition in our history. We congratulate them and express our deepest gratitude to our volunteer coaches and mentors, to our AFA volunteers, and to our generous sponsors who have made this season and all previous seasons possible. We are making a big difference together as we shape America's workforce of tomorrow.”
The CyberPatriot XI competition season began in October 2018 with over 6,000 registered teams–an increase of nearly 1,000 teams from the 2017-2018 competition. After multiple rounds of rigorous online challenges, the Open Division and All Service Division teams were divided into three tiers: Platinum, Gold, and Silver. The teams then competed within their tiers for state awards and advancement to the semifinal round, but only teams in the Platinum tier were eligible to advance to National Finals Competition.
“Well done to all the teams who participated in CyberPatriot this year and congratulations to the National Finalists! Each year we are delighted to see that CyberPatriot attracts more teams than ever before,” said Diane Miller, director, Global Cyber Education and Workforce Development Initiatives, Northrop Grumman. “A diverse, highly qualified cyber workforce is critical to protecting our nation’s security and global economy. We’re very proud that CyberPatriot is training and preparing competitors to fill the hundreds of thousands of cyber jobs going unfilled due to lack of available qualified talent. We know that better solutions to complex cyber challenges result when diversity of thought, experience, education, and problem-solving approaches are brought together. We’re confident that the CyberPatriot XI competitors, representing 27 percent female and 43 percent culturally diverse backgrounds, will develop great solutions to tough problems! We look forward to welcoming the National Finalists and their coaches to CyberPatriot XI National Finals Competition in April!”
At this year’s National Finals Competition, teams will compete to defend virtual networks and mobile devices from the Red Team – an aggressor team composed of cybersecurity professionals from several CyeberPatriot sponsor organizations. National Finalists will face off in two additional competition components: the Cisco Networking Challenge and the AT&T Mobile Device competition component, both returning from previous seasons. These extra challenges broaden the competitors’ cybersecurity experience and expose teams to new elements of the many career opportunities available.
CyberPatriot, the nation's largest and fastest growing youth cyber education program, is AFA's flagship STEM program dedicated to strengthening cyber skills among students. The program features the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition for high school and middle school students, AFA CyberCamps, the Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative, and CyberGenerations, a recently added senior citizen cyber safety program.
Supporters of CyberPatriot include the Northrop Grumman Foundation, CyberPatriot's Presenting Sponsor, as well as Cyber Diamond sponsors AT&T, Boeing, Cisco, Microsoft, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Cyber Gold sponsors Air Force Reserve, BNY Mellon, Facebook, Symantec, and The USAA Foundation; Cyber Silver sponsors Air Force STEM, American Military University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Leidos, Mastercard, and University of Maryland University College; and Cyber Partner sponsors Exostar, ICF, Liberty University, Riverside Research, Shepard, and Tenable.
To learn more about CyberPatriot, visit AFA’s CyberPatriot website www.uscyberpatriot.org.
