CyberPatriot!

[A.Member]

This is one of the most innovative and beneficial ideas to come along in awhile.  It's a terrific and meaningful competition for cadets.  Thanks to the AFA for putting this together!

2010 CyberPatriot High School Cyber Defense Competition

http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/cadet_programs/activities/cyber_patriot/

Anyone else have a team competing?

[jimmydeanno]

My unit is competing, and from what I've heard, we're the only one in a three wing radius...

[capn_shad]

Our unit is fielding a team.  I'm looking forward to seeing what our cadets can do, since this is a new thing for all of us!

I'm just hoping our intrawebs hold up for the competition! 

[A.Member]

My unit is competing, and from what I've heard, we're the only one in a three wing radius...

It's unfortunate that more units aren't competing.  If we didn't go with alternates, we probably could've split into two teams.   My cadets are very excited about the competition, and justifibly so.  It's too bad CAP didn't do a better job of promoting this program. 

[jimmydeanno]

I think they did a fine job promoting it.  I think that the description of the event and what it entails is really vague.  From what I read initially, I had no idea what they'd be doing - and I work in the network security world helping to design this technology.

So, I think a lot of people are/were skeptical as to whether or not a) it was something that teenagers could even do with their level of computer education, and b) whether or not they had someone that could coach that would have the needed knowledge.

I hope it works out well though, I'm not our team's coach (we have an IT professor from the state college that's a member, so he's spearheading our 6 cadet team).  I'm told that they have an event this Saturday...

[Eclipse]

From what I read initially, I had no idea what they'd be doing - and I work in the network security world helping to design this technology.

+1 on both. 

While this is a critical skill for the country's future, considering the issues we have getting cadets out of the groove on the couch for "traditionally fun" things like encampments, rocketry, and bivouacs, how do you sell the glory of port scans, firewalls, and IDS/HIDS?

[A.Member]

I think they did a fine job promoting it.  I think that the description of the event and what it entails is really vague. 

Interesting perspective.  Perhaps it's an issue of communication in our Wing.  I never saw a notification from National on the program and good luck finding it on their website (and when you do you'll find what little info provided is not up to date).  I received one very late e-mail from our Wing staff (ie a day or two prior to initial registration deadline) and scrambled to get registered.  I've heard nothing about the competition outside of that.

I agree the description was somewhat vague but the program is new - this is the second interation and the prior attempt was no where near this scale.   Nonetheless, the description was adequate enough to present a pretty fair overview of what's expected.   Similar competitions are held at collegiate and inter-service levels.  The organizers have done a commendable job given the complexity of pulling off something of this scale.  Responsiveness and techincal support has been excellent.  We'll see how Round 1 goes this weekend.

[A.Member]

While this is a critical skill for the country's future, considering the issues we have getting cadets out of the groove on the couch for "traditionally fun" things like encampments, rocketry, and bivouacs, how do you sell the glory of port scans, firewalls, and IDS/HIDS?

There was really no difficulty selling the idea to my cadets.  I suppose it's just a matter of demographics and numbers.  We have a decent sized cadet corps and I barely had the words out of my mouth and I had more than enough interest to fill a team.   They are all very excited. 

As you said these skills are critical to this country's future.  It's where battles are currently being fought and will continue to be fought.  I'll ask my cadets what attracted them to the idea but I suspect it's the challenge and the understanding that these are real world skills that have the potential to pay huge dividends.

[jimmydeanno]

Interesting perspective.  Perhaps it's an issue of communication in our Wing.  I never saw a notification from National on the program and good luck finding it on their website (and when you do you'll find what little info provided is not up to date).

I actually had the exact opposite.  I received, probably, 3 notifications about the event.  The first was a "CyberPatriot is awesome" and registration will be opening shortly.  Then I got the "Registration has opened" e-mail.  Then I got one that said the registration deadline had been extended because of "lack of interest."

This document: http://members.gocivilairpatrol.com/media/cms/CyberPatriot_55548BA37C934.pdf

came to us in an html formatted e-mail.

I agree the description was somewhat vague but the program is new - this is the second interation and the prior attempt was no where near this scale.   Nonetheless, the description was adequate enough to present a pretty fair overview of what's expected.   Similar competitions are held at collegiate and inter-service levels.  The organizers have done a commendable job given the complexity of pulling off something of this scale.  Responsiveness and techincal support has been excellent.  We'll see how Round 1 goes this weekend.

I agree with the positive notes you have included in here.  I do think that for next year a better description could be written for what they actually "do" to help reduce the "fear factor" and apprehension of entering the network security world.

I work for a company who's tagline is "secure networks."  Enterprise Network Infrastructure and  Security is our business.  With that, I read the description and even though it said, "coach doesn't need computer expertise" it made me wonder how you can have a network security competition without computer expertise.  After all, we employee people and pay them a heck of a salary to make sure our networks are secure.  Is it something that can really translate well into the high-school arena without it becoming overly non-competitive.

I just think that a clearer picture of the competition and how it works, what knowledge someone should have, etc should be painted prior to the registration process.  Once you register and get your initial information packet, you have an "ah-ha" moment.

But, all in all, it is a cool program that I think more units should try to do.  It doesn't take many people to do it, but can incorporate a lot if you wanted to.

[A.Member]

Round One results are in and the following teams qualified to move on the Medalist round on Nov. 21 (note: 6 CAP teams advanced, the remainder are AFJROTC teams):

AL-941 Huntsville HS, Huntsville, AL

AZ-943 Catalina Magnet HS, Tucson AZ

CAP Unit RMR-CO-030, Peterson AFB, CO 

FL-952 F.W. Springstead HS, Spring Hill, FL

IL-20061 Lincoln Way East HS, Frankfort, IL

IL-20091 Lincoln Way West HS, New Lenox, IL

LA-071 Parkway HS, Bossier City, LA

CAP Unit SWR-LA-008, Hammond, LA

CAP Unit NCR-MN-030, Bloomington, MN

MO-081 Lafayette HS, Ballwin MO

NC-20065  North Henderson HS, Hendersonville, NC

CAP Unit MER-NC-022, Gibsonville, NC

NY-095 Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, NY

NY-20031 Rome Free Academy, Rome, NY

CAP Unit NER-NY-288, Freeport, NY

TX-093 Billy Ryan HS, Denton, TX

TX-20011 Flower Mound HS, Flower Mound, TX

TX-20023  Boerne-Samuel V. Champion High School, Boerne, TX

CAP Unit SWR-TX-214, Combine, TX

UT-081 Clearfield HS, Clearfield, UT

VA-20066 William Byrd HS, Vinton, VA

Teams that did not qualify for the Medalist competition in Round One will have a second shot at it the week on Nov. 14.   

The top 15 teams from Round Two will advance to the Medalist round.  The Medalist round will consist of 36 total teams.

Good luck!

[jimmydeanno]

The list above doesn't have my unit on there.  That's because we weren't even able to compete because we couldn't get a connection to their server...

However, my unit's team just competed in the round on Saturday and is advancing to round 3. 

The CyberPatriot leader noted that our unit received the highest score of any team competing on Saturday (said to be over 100 teams). 

This is getting good!  Good luck one the next round everyone!

[capn_shad]

Good to hear that!  We were also victims of the first round ScoreBot problems.  We didn't fare so well in Round 2 -- a combination of only one team member taking the outside study seriously and of a team coordinator (me) who isn't a computer security expert!

Our main problem was not having a lot of high-school aged cadets this year.  That will change next year, as a lot of our higher-speed cadets move on to high school -- and all of them are excited about CyberPatriot III!

[LTC Don]

RE the standings so far.  That's very cool to see the Colorado Springs Cadet Squadron moving forward.  I joined as a cadet with them back in 1982; been a long time. 


Cheers,

[A.Member]

The list above doesn't have my unit on there.  That's because we weren't even able to compete because we couldn't get a connection to their server...

However, my unit's team just competed in the round on Saturday and is advancing to round 3. 

The CyberPatriot leader noted that our unit received the highest score of any team competing on Saturday (said to be over 100 teams). 

This is getting good!  Good luck one the next round everyone!

Congrats!

The final list of qualifiers for the Medalist Round are as follows:

AL-941 Huntsville HS, Huntsville, AL 
AZ-943 Catalina Magnet HS, Tucson,AZ
CAP GLR-MI-202, Rochester Hills, MI       
CAP NER-NH-010, Barrington, NH       
CAP NER-NY-135 Syracuse Sq, Syracuse, NY       
CAP PCR-CA-107 Beach Cities Sq, Gardena, CA       
CAP SER FL-001 FL CAP WG, Miramar, FL       
CAP SER-AL-126 Springville Flight, Ashville, AL       
CAP SER-GA-014 , McDonough, GA       
CAP SER-MS-096, Germantown, TN       
CAP SWR-AZ-036, Queen Creek, AZ       
CAP Unit MER-NC-022, Gibsonville, NC 
CAP Unit NCR-MN-030, Bloomington, MN 
CAP Unit NER-NY-288, Freeport, NY
CAP Unit RMR-CO-030, Peterson AFB, CO 
CAP Unit SWR-LA-008, Hammond, LA 
CAP Unit SWR-TX-214, Combine, TX
FL-20053 Celebration HS, Kissimmee, FL       
FL-952 F.W. Springstead HS, Spring Hill, FL
IL-20061 Lincoln Way East HS, Frankfort, IL
IL-20091 Lincoln Way West HS, New Lenox, IL
LA-071 Parkway HS, Bossier City, LA 
LA-792 Ruston HS, Ruston, LA       
MER-SC-014 Greenville, Mauldin, SC
MO-081 Lafayette HS, Ballwin ,MO
NC-20065  North Henderson HS, Hendersonville, NC
NY-095 Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, NY
NY-20031 Rome Free Academy, Rome, NY
TX-081 Abilene HS, Abilene, TX       
TX-093 Billy Ryan HS, Denton, TX
TX-20006 Klein Oak HS, Spring, TX       
TX-20011 Flower Mound HS, Flower Mound, TX
TX-20023  Boerne-Samuel V. Champion High School, Boerne, TX
UT-081 Clearfield HS, Clearfield, UT
VA-20066 William Byrd HS, Vinton, VA
WA-20001 John R. Rogers HS, Spokane, WA

CAP is represented well.

[tlavinder]

Here are the final 8 for the final round in February. CAP has four teams!

-------------

CAP Beach Cities Cadet Sq 107 (PCR-CA-107), Torrance, CA (Top Scorer at a combined 236%)

FL-952 F.W. Springstead HS, Spring Hill, FL

CAP Rochester Oakland Comp Sq (GLR-MI-202), Rochester Hills, MI

CAP Burlington Comp Sq (MER-NC-022), Burlington, NC

CAP Seacoast Composite Sq (NER-NH-010), Portsmouth, NH

NY-095 Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, NY

NY-20031 Rome Free Academy, Rome, NY

UT-081 Clearfield HS, Clearfield, UT

-----------------

[Eclipse]

What are you actually doing?

[RicL]

I'd like more information on the inner workings of the competition also. Are the computers that you're securing, installing antivirus on and firewalling actual computers at your squadron or are they part of a virtual environment? I assume with the scoring issues that were encountered that they're actual local machines.

I've heard that it involves both windows and linux. Is there a specific distribution that's required or are you free to choose and configure it as you want.

[jimmydeanno]

I can't speak to what they actually do.  Our unit's coach isn't me - I'm just reporting results from my unit.

However, it is my understanding that they are using their own computers.  The program they install on them links to the scoring machine in a central location.  My understanding is that the program then initiates network security breaches/attacks and the team is responsible for responding to and eliminating those threats.

[jimmydeanno]

Just as I finish writing the above, our Squadron's coach notifies me that our unit has qualified for the Finals in Orlando in February.  Apparently, we are one of only 4 CAP units nationwide and 4 AFJROTC units (8 teams total). 

Our team scored 232 points, which we think was 2nd or 3rd place overall.  The top team scored 238 points.

[Майор Хаткевич]

Just as I finish writing the above, our Squadron's coach notifies me that our unit has qualified for the Finals in Orlando in February.  Apparently, we are one of only 4 CAP units nationwide and 4 AFJROTC units (8 teams total). 

Our team scored 232 points, which we think was 2nd or 3rd place overall.  The top team scored 238 points.

CAP Seacoast Composite Sq (NER-NH-010), Portsmouth, NH

[tlavinder]

They are using VMWare Player to host the targets. VMWare Player is a free application that essentially lets you run a computer in another window on your computer. Anyone can download and use it. The latest version makes it easy to create your own as well.

For Round 1, the target turned out to be Windows Server 2003. Prior to the competition date, the coaches are sent a link to download the target. It is zipped and password protected, so all you can do is download it. When it is time for the competition to start, the coaches are provided a web page with a document that includes a list of what you can and can't do to the targets along with the password to unzip it. You boot the virtual computer in VMWare Player and the cadets are left to harden it. They act as the Blue team. There are no attackers (Red Team) in the first rounds, although I understand in the finals there will be.

For Round 3, there were three targets. Windows 2K Server, Windows 2K Pro, and RedHat9. The Linux system did not have a GUI, so the cadets had to work from the command line.

The cadets had six hours to work through the system, locking down the firewall, putting on patches, checking passwords, cleaning up virues, rootkits, malware, etc. It was well done and at the right level for most high school students. We went back after the competition and looked to see what we may have missed and found nothing at a really deep or hidden level. Almost everything was the stuff you see in any business where there is not a good IT Security policy in place.

This was the first year that they tried running the competition on this large of a scale, so they are certainly working through some of the trials and tribulations of doing so. Overall, I must say they did a really good job on this and the cadets were way more excited and passionate about it then I would have ever guessed. I would highly recommend forming a team of cadets interested in computers for the next competition. I'm sure next year will be even bigger and better.

[A.Member]

Just as I finish writing the above, our Squadron's coach notifies me that our unit has qualified for the Finals in Orlando in February.  Apparently, we are one of only 4 CAP units nationwide and 4 AFJROTC units (8 teams total). 

Our team scored 232 points, which we think was 2nd or 3rd place overall.  The top team scored 238 points.

Awesome!   Congrats to your team. 

Our team ran into some connectivity issues on with one of the images on Sat.   We won't be moving on to the finals but still had a blast and thought it was a great experience.   The competition is a fantastic idea that will only get better as organizers continue their efforts to improve the experience.