ESP Mentors Winning CyberPatriot Teams

CyberPatriot is a national cybersecurity competition created by the Air Force Association, which pits middle and high school students from the US, Canada, and international teams across the globe against each other through a series of challenges involving networking, Windows, and Linux security. Teams are sorted into three divisions: Open, All Service for ROTC-affiliated teams, and Middle School. State-level rounds separate teams into tiers (Platinum, Gold, Silver) before the highest-scoring teams in each tier advance to the semifinal and final rounds. Starting in 2009, CyberPatriot has attracted teams from thousands of schools, helping tens of thousands of students to gain exposure to the cybersecurity field.

Alex Ray, ESP's Network Security Engineer, has been mentoring CyberPatriot teams at John R. Rogers High School in Spokane since 2014. His involvement includes providing lectures and other forms of instruction, developing or finding training materials for students, and assisting with technical questions. He also provides moral support during competitions which can last upwards of six hours. Many students start out with little computer experience, and over several months, they rapidly gain familiarity with technology and security concepts that are otherwise not often learned until college.

Alex has worked with one Open Division team and two AFJROTC (Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps) teams this year. While all three teams did well, the AFJROTC teams, in particular, scored #1 in each of their tiers in the state ('All Service' Gold and Platinum), with the Gold team being #3 overall in the state's All Service division. The Gold team is now headed to the semifinals at the end of January, and if they do well, potentially to Washington DC for finals. We wish them much success!