MacArthur CyberPatriots advance to national finals in D.C.

DATE: Mar. 22 - 26
TIME: n/a
LOCATION: Washington, D.C.

The MacArthur High School Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (JROTC) Cobalt Crusaders CyberPatriot team qualified as one of the top 12 military teams to compete in the U.S. Air Force CyberPatriot National Championships in Washington, D.C. on March 22-26. Their trip will be fully funded by the Air Force. The competition started with close to 1,100 teams.

On Friday, January 13, during round three of the national online competition, semi-finalist teams competed to remove 12 difficult vulnerabilities from a Linux server platform and 20 from a 2003 Exchange server platform in a short period of time. Points were given for vulnerabilities resolved and subtracted for non-constructive actions taken by the team.

MacArthur CyberPatriot team members are Lois Agabon, Andy Banda, Robert Isenhour, Peter Myers, Samuel Burgess, Brannen Petit, and Adam Cruz. Team mentors are MacArthur French Teacher Amy King and her husband Corey King, assisted by Andrew McConnell. Team coach is Lt. Colonel Bob Blake. Equipment has been provided for the team to use by Southwest Research Institute, Globalscape and San Antonio College.

Staff and students learned of the results and their claim on a national spot on Wednesday, Jan. 18. "I screamed and shouted until I was hoarse yesterday!" Amy said, expressing her joy and excitement in the team's advancement.

"The Mac CyberPatriot Cobalt Crusaders practiced very hard through the Christmas holidays and on Saturdays to ensure they were as prepared as well as possible, as this was their first year of competition and many of the teams they were going against have been doing this for three years," said LTC Blake. "The hard work really paid off. All team members are looking forward to giving their very best effort at the finals in Washington, D.C."

For more information, contact robert blake at 210-650-1100.

Posted on January 20, 2012