Arlington, VA – Ninety-seven teams of high school students participating in CyberPatriot’s All Service Division will be competing this Saturday to determine which teams will be one step closer to obtaining the Commander-in-Chief Cup.

CyberPatriot, an education initiative produced by the Air Force Association, is a one-of-a-kind cyber defense competition, providing students hands-on learning about cybersecurity while virtually competing against their peers.

The All Service Division originally had 475 teams registered to compete. After Saturday, only 12 of the 97 teams eligible to compete in Round 3 will be advancing to the semifinals in Orlando, Florida, an all-expenses-paid trip. The top two teams from each service – Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Civil Air Patrol – will be joined by two “wild card” teams to compete in the first in-person challenge of the competition.

The two-track competition has teams registered nationwide from public, private, parochial and home schools in the Open Division while JROTC units of all Services and Civil Air Patrol squadrons filled the All Service Division. In all, more than 650 teams registered to participate in the competition.

Throughout the competition teams have raced against time and their opponents to quickly find and effectively correct vulnerabilities in virtual networks to advance. Created in 2008, CyberPatriot was designed to motivate students to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields in their studies. It has quickly become the nation’s largest and fastest-growing youth cybersecurity challenge.

“There’s a tremendous enthusiasm for cybersecurity that is being shown by these students as they engage in a competition that’s both exciting and mentally challenging,” said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. “We congratulate all the teams for making it this far and wish the ones participating in Saturday’s competition the best of luck.”

CyberPatriot will host its competition’s finals at the Gaylord National Convention Center in Washington, D.C. in April 2011, where teams will compete for scholarship money and awards.

CyberPatriot is presented by Northrop Grumman, with founding partners SAIC and the CIAS at the University of Texas-San Antonio. A list of advancing teams and more information about CyberPatriot can be found at www.uscyberpatriot.org.