For Immediate Release
Feb. 23, 2010
POC: 2nd Lt. Carey Cox, Public Affairs Officer: 336-285-0445
Local Cadets Place Second In National CyberPatriot II Championships
Orlando, FL -- Cyber defense teams from the Arizona, California, New Hampshire and North Carolina wings of the Civil Air Patrol competed against four Air Force Junior ROTC teams in the Air Force Association's CyberPatriot II Championships on Friday, Feb. 19 in Orlando, FL.
CyberPatriot II is the largest national high school cyber defense competition ever held. It has included more than 200 high school Air Force Junior ROTC and CAP cadet teams from 41 states and Japan in simultaneous competition. Only eight teams from the competition's Medalist Flight round advanced to the all-expenses-paid championship round at the Rosen Shingle Creek Convention Center.
Last year, only one Civil Air Patrol team was in the final eight compared with seven Air Force Junior ROTC teams. This year, CAP teams made up about one-quarter of the contestants to start, but ended the competition as half of a 50-50 split.
The CAP Medalist Flight teams were from the Burlington Composite Squadron in Burlington, NC, Willie Composite Squadron 304 in Mesa, AZ, the Seacoast Composite Squadron in Portsmouth, NH, and the Beach Cities Cadet Squadron 107 in Torrance, CA. Air Force Junior ROTC teams that competed in the finals were from F.W. Springstead High School in Spring Hill, FL, Newburgh Free Academy in Newburgh, NY, Rome Free Academy in Rome, NY and Clearfield High School in Clearfield, UT.
During the live Championship competition, the most complicated series of live challenges yet, competitors had only six hours to find and correct vulnerabilities administered by a "Red Team" opponent that actively countered their defense strategies using a commercial platform called CyberNEXS, donated by SAIC, and were tracked and scored according to success and speed.
"CyberPatriot II has been a tremendous success and an excellent learning opportunity," said S. Sanford Schlitt, AFA's vice chairman of the board for aerospace education. "As a career field, cyber defense is essential to our nation's prosperity and national security. One of our primary missions at AFA is promoting education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and we're so proud to spearhead this exciting educational program."
The Burlington Composite Squadron cyber defense team, self proclaimed as the "WiFi Warriors", consists of Cadets Jordan A. Andrews, David B. Peterson, Joshua S. Jordan, Zachary N. Baughman, Marico E. Bernal and Will J. Buslinger. The team had good momentum and confidence going into the Championship round from a high placement after the Medalist round in November. This helped propel them to a national second place finish overall and a top place finish among CAP teams. "The 22nd Wifi Warriors fought bravely to maintain the confidentiality, integrity and availability of the competition environment while under an onslaught of malware from the Red team. In the end, the ability of the cadets to remain calm, cool and focused on basic security principles allowed them to bring home a second place national finish and remain the top CAP cyber defense team in the country," said 2nd Lt. Neal Gay, co-coach of the WiFi Warriors. "The national recognition will help prepare us for a first place finish next year."
Civil Air Patrol, the official auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, is a nonprofit organization with over 59,000 members nationwide. CAP, in its Air Force auxiliary role, performs 90 percent of continental U.S. inland search and rescue missions as tasked by the Air Force Rescue Coordination Center and was credited by the AFRCC with saving 72 lives in fiscal year 2009. Its volunteers also perform homeland security, disaster relief and counter-drug missions at the request of federal, state and local agencies. The members play a leading role in aerospace education and serve as mentors to the more than 24,000 young people currently participating in CAP cadet programs. CAP has been performing missions for America for 68 years.
The Burlington Composite Squadron currently has nearly 100 total members from the Piedmont and meets every Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the North Carolina Wing Headquarters, located at the Burlington Municipal Airport, 3520 Alamance Road, Burlington, NC, 27215, (336)570-6894. For more information, visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com or the Burlington Composite Squadron web site at www.doubledeuces.org.
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Attached Photo Captions:
All photos taken by 2nd Lt. Neal Gay
- competition.jpg: Burlington team during competition. From near to far: Cadets Andrews, Baughman, Buslinger, Bernal and Jordan
- competition2.jpg: Burlington team during competition. From left to right: Cadets Jordan, Baughman (standing), Bernal, Buslinger and Andrews.
- team.jpg: L to R: Capt. Ruth Buslinger (assistant coach), 1st Lt. Todd Lavinder (co-coach), Cadets Buslinger, Andrews, Baughman, Jordan, Peterson, Bernal, 2nd Lt. Neal Gay (co-coach) and Maj. Gen. Amy Courter (CAP National Commander).
- team2.jpg: L to R: 1st Lt. Todd Lavinder (co-coach), Cadets Andrews, Bernal, Capt. Ruth Buslinger, Cadets Buslinger, Baughman, Peterson, Jordan and 2nd Lt. Neil Gay.
- schwartz.jpg: Cadet Bernal shakes the hand of General Norton A. Schwartz, Air Force Chief of Staff.
