CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Education Program. There are three main programs within CyberPatriot: the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, AFA CyberCamps and the Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative. CyberPatriot was conceived by the Air Force Association (AFA) to inspire high school students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation's future.

The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition

At the center of CyberPatriot is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. The competition puts teams of high school and middle school students in the position of newly hired IT professionals tasked with managing the network of a small company. In the rounds of competition, teams are given a set of virtual images that represent operating systems and are tasked with finding cybersecurity vulnerabilities within the images and hardening the system while maintaining critical services. Teams compete for the top placement within their state and region, and the top teams in the nation earn all- expenses paid trips to Washington, DC for the National Finals Competition where they can earn national recognition and scholarship money.

Volunteer Opportunities

We are seeking volunteers with the desire to inspire and develop youth from our San Diego community. Our volunteers will help manage the program throughout San Diego County. In addition, our teams are in dire need of technical experts to serve as mentors. The position descriptions are below for those who are interested in this great opportunity to serve our community.

Our Chapter's CyberPatriot Goals & Objectives

We will partner with educators, local industry, Congressional representatives, youth groups, and other organizations in order to accomplish the following goals and objectives:

  • Boost our county’s STEM/cyber education capabilities

  • Develop our youth by helping to provide a STEM/cyber foundation

  • Increase CyberPatriot county participation by 10% annually

  • Enable our teams by providing solutions to capability or capacity shortfalls (where able)

  • Assess what went right or wrong with team processes and activities to improve overall County performance

  • “National Champion” from San Diego County!

San Diego County CyberPatriot National Finalists

A number of schools and organizations have made it through the state and regional competitions to become national finalists. We have had some 2nd and 3rd place finishes and are looking forward to having a National Champion from San Diego. Lets make CyberPatriot VIII our year!

Westview HS, Open Division, 2nd Place, CyberPatriot III, 2010-2011

Patrick Henry HS NJROTC, All Services Division, 3rd Place, CyberPatriot V, 2012-2013*
Naval Sea Cadet Corps, Fort Fisher Division, All Services Division, 3rd Place, CyberPatriot VII 2014-2015* and Finalist CyberPatriot V, 2012-2013 and VI, 2013-2014

These schools and groups have also been very successful in the CyberPatriot State and Regional Competitions. For example, the Black Mountain Middle School team was the best Middle School team in California for CyberPatriot VII, 2014-2015.