What is CyberPatriot?
One of the primary programs we support, AFA CyberPatriot is a national cyber security competition for Middle and High School students. High School students compete under either a Services or Open division, tackling a scenario that places them in the role of a newly-hired IT professional taking charge of an unruly environment, wherein they must use their accumulated knowledge and troubleshooting skills to diagnose security failures, remediate vulnerabilities, and harden operating systems according to documented business need; Middle School students can also engage in the same competition under their own division. There is also a Cisco portion, wherein students learn to develop and troubleshoot business network designs using Packet Tracer.
Organization
Students are organized into teams of two to six individuals, with one or more teams headed by a coach who maintains discipline, ensures compliance to legal and school requirements, and enforces the rules of the competition on the students they lead.
Coaches also handle any paperwork or forms needed to compete, and coordinate physical & technical resources needed for training or competition.
Teams can also have one or more technical mentor, who are individuals – typically IT or security professionals – that assist with team training, demonstrate technical knowledge or techniques to the students, etc.