CyberPatriot

The Rules

CyberPatriot is a competition for youth teams to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities in virtual operating systems. Members are forced to use a proprietary competition system, teams are scored on how secure they make the system. It was created by the Air Force Association and granted lots of opportunities for students to break into the NSA or contract-based cybersecurity careers. It being pushed as a competition helped engage youth to adopt leadership, communication, and cooperation skills among competitors. Before the competition begins, teams prepare by downloading virtual images of operating systems that contain intentional security weaknesses. Their objective is to identify and fix these vulnerabilities, ensuring that essential computer services like email continue to operate smoothly. A centralized CyberPatriot scoring system tracks each team’s progress throughout the event.

My Experience

I was a member of the CyberPatriot team and competed in the CyberPatriot Competition. I had to collaborate with a team to resolve issues in various operating systems like Windows 10, Windows 10 Server, Linux, and Cisco networking. I was specifically responsible for the Windows 10 Server and with our team’s efforts actually made it to National Finals but lost the final round. Our team consisted of 4 people and we all created checklists to follow to aid our effectiveness. It was a really exciting experience and pushed my critical thinking skills and my ability to work under pressure. Our performance was a result of lots of meetings and study sessions. As teammates we pushed each other to doing the best that we could. I spent hours doing the practice scenarios and building my checklist for the competition.