BROOKINGS (KELO AM) - The cadet cyber-security team of the Big Sioux Composite Squadron in Brookings, part of the Civil Air Patrol’s South Dakota Wing, won second place in the national finals of the Air Force Association’s seventh annual CyberPatriot Competition held in Washington, D.C. from 11-15 March. In addition, they were the top Civil Air Patrol team in the competition.
The team from Brookings competed in the “All Service Division” national finals for the fourth year in a row against teams from the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Junior ROTC programs, the Naval Sea Cadet Corps and the Civil Air Patrol. In CyberPatriot-VII 1,007 teams competed in the All Services Division, 400 teams from CAP units. Only the top two teams from each organization in the All Services Division got to go to the national finals. “We are extremely proud of the accomplishments of the Big Sioux squadron in their pursuit of being the top team in the competition. A lot of hard work and dedication goes into preparation for this competition and to be the top Civil Air Patrol team in the nation is no easy feat.” Said Colonel John Seten, the Wing Commander of the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol.
In the national finals 28 teams, 13 from the All Service Division, competed to defend virtual networks and mobile devices from a professional aggressor team. The national finalists also faced off in four additional competition components: the Digital Cyber Crime Scene Challenge from the Digital Forensic Consortium, the Cisco Networking Challenge, the Leidos Digital Forensics Challenge and a Mobile Application Challenge hosted by AT&T. The teams were scored on how quickly and effectively they established and maintained secure networks.
Team Big Sioux consists of Team Captain C/Maj Joshua Klosterman of Brandon, C/2nd Lt Chris Dinnel, C/CMSgt Jaden Petersen and C/TSgt Sergeant Nathaniel Fleet, all from Lake Benton, MN, and C/2nd Lt Laura Rudnik of Brookings. The team is coached by Capt. Shannon Hofer of Hendricks, MN, who is the Big Sioux Composite Squadron commander as well as the South Dakota Wing's Director of Information Technology and Web Security Administrator and mentored by Cadet Captain Tyler Gross of Volga.
CyberPatriot VII began last October with more than 2,100 teams from all 50 states, Canada and Department of Defense dependent schools in Europe and the Pacific. After two months of rigorous online challenges, the Open Division and All Service Division teams were divided into three tiers: Platinum, Gold and Silver. Team Big Sioux was placed in the Platinum Tier. The teams continued to compete within their tiers for state awards and advancement to the regional/category round. Only teams in the top Platinum tier were eligible to advance to national finals competition.
The South Dakota Wing of the Civil Air Patrol, with squadrons in South Dakota in Sioux Falls, Brookings, Rapid City, Pierre, Custer and Spearfish has approximately 300 members, six light aircraft and 17 multi-purpose vehicles. These assets are available to federal, state and county governments, emergency responders and law enforcement agencies to perform search and rescue, homeland security, disaster relief, humanitarian assistance and counter-drug missions. For more information on SD CAP visit the wing’s website at http://sdcap.us and Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SDWingCAP. For general information on CAP visit www.gocivilairpatrol.com orwww.capvolunteernow.com.