PRESS RELEASE

ARLINGTON, Va., Nov. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Air Force Association (AFA) today announced the eight teams who have punched their ticket to the Championship Round of CyberPatriot II in sunny Orlando, Florida, in February.

CyberPatriot II, likely the largest simultaneous high school cyber defense competition ever staged, began with a one-of-a-kind simultaneous opening round Nov. 7 of nearly 200 high schools from 41 states and Japan competing over the Internet. Over two weeks, that group was narrowed to 36 teams for the Medalist Flight competition on Nov. 21, out of which emerged these final eight teams:

-- CAP Beach Cities Cadet Squadron 107, Torrance, CA (Top Scorer) -- AFJROTC FL-952 F.W. Springstead HS, Spring Hill, FL -- CAP Rochester Oakland Comp Squadron, Rochester Hills, MI -- CAP Burlington Comp Squadron, Burlington, NC -- CAP Seacoast Composite Squadron, Portsmouth, NH -- AFJROTC NY-095 Newburgh Free Academy, Newburgh, NY -- AFJROTC NY-20031 Rome Free Academy, Rome, NY -- AFJROTC UT-081 Clearfield HS, Clearfield, UT

Their rewards are an all-expense-paid trip to the Championship Round, February 19, 2010, in conjunction with AFA's Air Warfare Symposium at the Rosen Shingle Creek Convention Center. There, they compete in the most complicated series of live challenges yet, against a "Red Team" opponent that will actively counter their defense strategies.

In a race against the clock, the Medalist Flight competitors had no more than six hours to find and correct vulnerabilities in a complex, three-operating-system virtual network made possible by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), and were tracked according to success and speed. Using a commercial platform called CyberNEXS, the teams had to "lock-down" two Windows and one UNIX servers. The teams with the best individual scores on the three operating system types were:

Windows 2000 Professional: Clearfield HS, Clearfield, UT

Windows 2000 Server: Rome Free Academy, Rome, NY

Red Hat 9 Linux: Clearfield HS, Clearfield, UT

"CyberPatriot II has been a tremendous success and an excellent learning opportunity. We appreciate the enthusiastic participation from across the nation, and look forward to expanding CyberPatriot III next year," said S. Sanford Schlitt, AFA's Vice-Chairman of the Board for Aerospace Education. "As a career field, cyber defense is essential to our nation's prosperity and national security. One of our primary missions at AFA is promoting education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and we're so proud to spearhead this exciting educational program."

The competition benefits greatly through the advice and assistance of Dr. Greg White of the Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security (CIAS), which also created and conducts the National Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition. Dr. White serves as a colonel in the Air Force Reserve in the field of cyber security.

Watch the website www.AFA.org for announcements and developments.

AFA is a 501(C)(3), nonprofit organization promoting public understanding of aerospace power and the pivotal role it plays in the security of the nation. AFA has more than 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing 125,000 members.