For Immediate Release
November 17, 2009

36-Team Medalist Flight Set for National High School Cyber Defense Competition

Arlington, VA – The Air Force Association (AFA) today announced 15 teams advanced through a wild card round of nearly 100 competing teams to join the Medalist Flight of CyberPatriot II, totaling 36 teams. The 20 Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (AFJROTC) and 16 Civil Air Patrol (CAP) teams hail from 20 different states across the country.

CyberPatriot II, likely the largest live high school cyber defense competition ever staged, began with a one-of-a-kind simultaneous opening round Nov. 7 of well over 100 high schools from 42 states and Japan competing over the Internet. Twenty-one teams moved on in that round, and nearly 100 schools came back for another try in the Nov. 14 consolation round resulting in these 15 entries to the 36-team semifinals.

In a race against both the clock and their opponents, competitors had no more than six hours to find and correct vulnerabilities in a virtual network made possible by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and are tracked according to success and speed.

Next weekend, on Nov. 21, the 36 Medalist Flight teams will take on a much more complex virtual network and an entirely new set of vulnerabilities, with eight teams moving on to the coveted Championship Round, and an all-expenses-paid trip to Orlando, Florida.

“CyberPatriot II has been everything we expected and more. Whether a team is moving on to the Medalist Flight or not, it is a great learning opportunity for all,” said S. Sanford Schlitt, AFA’s Vice-Chairman of the Board for Aerospace Education. “The career field of cyber defense will be vital to our nation’s security for the next generation.”

The Championship Round will be February 19, 2010, in conjunction with AFA’s Air Warfare Symposium at the Rosen Shingle Creek Convention Center in sunny Orlando. There, they compete in the most complicated series of live challenges yet, against a “Red Team” opponent that will actively counter their defense strategies.

Using a commercial platform called CyberNEXS donated by SAIC, the final competition involves a series of cyber attacks while the teams attempt to defend and maintain service on a virtualized network of computers.

The competition benefits greatly through the advice and assistance of Dr. Greg White of the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS), which also created and conducts the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Dr. White serves as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve in the field of cyber security.

Watch the website www.AFA.org for announcements and developments.

The 15 advancing teams from Round Two are as follows:

• CAP Springville Composite Squadron (CS), Springville, Alabama (SER-AL-126)
• CAP Willie Squadron (Sq) 36, Queen Creek, Arizona (SWR-AZ-036)
• CAP Beach Cities Sq 107, Torrance, California (PCR-CA-107)
• CAP Florida Wing, Orlando, Florida (SER FL-001)
• Celebration High School, Kissimmee, Florida (AFJROTC FL-20053)
• CAP Griffin Sq, Griffin Georgia (SER-GA-014)
• Ruston High School, Ruston, Louisiana (AFJROTC LA-792)
• CAP Rochester Oakland CS, Rochester Hills, Michigan (GLR-MI-202)
• CAP Olive Branch CS, Olive Branch Mississippi (SER-MS-096)
• CAP Seacoast CS, Portsmouth, New Hampshire (NER-NH-010)
• CAP Syracuse Sq, Syracuse, New York (NER-NY-135)
• CAP Greenville Sq, Greenville, South Carolina (MER-SC-014)
• Abilene High School, Abilene, Texas (AFJROTC TX-081)
• Klein Oak High School, Spring, Texas (AFJROTC TX-20006)
• John R. Rogers High School, Spokane, Washington (AFJROTC WA-20001)

For the 21 teams that advanced in Round One, click (and scroll down) here: http://www.afa.org/media/press/CDC21.asp.

AFA Contact: Joel Hannahs 703.247.5847 or JHannahs@AFA.org.