Cyber Patriot

CyberPatriot is the Air Force Association's National Youth Cyber Education Program, created to inspire K-12 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 | Grades 6-12 The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition is an online-based program that 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. Through a series of online competition rounds, teams are given a set of virtual operating systems and are tasked with finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities while maintaining critical services. Winners are awarded scholarships. When internships arise, a notification is sent out by email to all competitors and coaches notifying them of the opportunity. Not only is the competition fun and exciting, it also creates a career path for today’s students, fostering continued education from middle school through college and into the beginning of their careers.