CyberPatriot is the Air & Space Forces Association's National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. Student teams secure virtual computers and networks by finding vulnerabilities, fixing security problems, protecting required services, completing networking challenges, and answering forensics questions.
CyberPatriot is built around middle- and high-school student competitors, but adults can participate as coaches, technical mentors, or team assistants. People who are not yet on a team can still use official CyberPatriot learning resources to understand the competition and strengthen related skills.
Students in middle school or junior-high-level programs can compete through an eligible fielding organization in the Middle School Division. The competition uses the same defensive mindset: inspect systems, identify security problems, make approved fixes, and complete networking work.
High-school students can compete in the Open Division through eligible schools and youth organizations, or in the All Service Division when they meet the applicable JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, or U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps requirements.
Yes. Adults can serve as CyberPatriot technical mentors. The latest posted rules define mentors as optional technical advisors who help teach cyber-defense skills and ethics during training. Mentors must be adults over 18, cannot be competitors or high-school-level students, must complete CyberPatriot's required background-check process, and must be officially linked to the team. Mentor and team-assistant registration is available year-round.
Every team needs one adult coach of record. The coach handles team registration, receives official competition communication, supervises the team, and protects competition integrity. Adults can also register as team assistants to provide nontechnical support. Coaches and mentors train students before a round but may not provide answers or technical assistance during an official competition period.
| Learning option | Best for | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Official Interactive Demo | Students, families, educators, mentors, organization leaders | See a partial competition-image simulation with a built-in tutorial before joining a team. |
| CyberPatriot Training Materials | Beginning and returning competitors | Use official Windows, Linux, networking, and competition-preparation materials to build skills. |
| Exhibition + Training Rounds | Registered teams | Practice the real image workflow before scored competition begins. |
| Practice Round | Registered teams preparing for scored rounds | Test the computers, networking, virtualization software, scoring connection, and team workflow. |
| Cisco Networking Academy self-paced learning | Students and adults who want more networking/cyber practice | Use free self-paced Cisco learning to strengthen networking and cybersecurity foundations. |
| Independent lab practice | Students who want extra repetition | Practice legal defensive administration skills in personal or organization-approved lab systems; never use restricted competition images or material outside the rules. |
| Technical mentoring | Adults 18+ with useful technical knowledge | Register, complete the required background check, connect with an approved team, and help teach defensive skills during training. |
Teams are placed in the role of cybersecurity defenders. During online rounds, they work through one or more virtual operating-system images and Cisco networking activities. The objective is to improve security while keeping the systems and services required by the scenario working.
Inspect Windows and Linux systems, find security weaknesses, and harden the operating system.
Use Cisco Networking Academy content, quizzes, and Packet Tracer exercises tied to the competition round.
Answer forensics questions, interpret evidence, and make security decisions without breaking required services.
Students need both technical skill and disciplined teamwork. A strong team reads first, assigns work, verifies changes, and watches the score without making random fixes.
CyberPatriot is useful because students repeatedly apply skills instead of only reading about them.
Accounts, groups, security policy, updates, services, firewall, permissions, malware, and system hardening.
Users/groups, sudo access, packages, permissions, services, logs, firewall settings, and command-line troubleshooting.
IP addressing, subnetting, routing/switching concepts, network configuration, and Packet Tracer.
Risk identification, remediation, verification, evidence awareness, secure configuration, and maintaining availability.
Task assignment, communication, change tracking, time management, decision-making, and working under pressure.
Experience connected to system administration, networking, cybersecurity operations, IT support, and related certification topics.
The posted CyberPatriot 18 rules define teams as 2–6 registered student competitors, with up to five competing at one time. Organizations should confirm the CyberPatriot 19 rules when the CP19 rules book is posted.
| Area | Current / latest published guidance |
|---|---|
| Open High School Division | High-school teams from eligible schools and approved youth organizations. |
| All Service Division | High-school JROTC, Civil Air Patrol, and U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps teams. |
| Middle School Division | Teams composed of middle-school students through eligible organizations. |
| Registered competitors | Latest posted rules: 2–6 students per team; up to five may compete at one time. |
| Coach | One adult coach of record. CyberPatriot states a coach can register up to five teams. |
| Technical mentor | Optional but recommended adult technical advisor. Latest posted rules require mentors to be over 18, not competitors or high-school-level students, to complete the CyberPatriot background-check process, and to be officially linked with the team. Mentors help teach cyber-defense skills during training but cannot provide outside assistance during official competition. |
| Team assistant | Optional adult who provides nontechnical/administrative support. |
Competition dates and times may change. Use the official CyberPatriot schedule before committing facilities, transportation, staffing, or student attendance.
The exact image mix and point values can change. This table helps students understand how the challenge grows across the season.
| Round | Listed systems / tasks | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Training Round 1 | Windows 11, Server 2022, Mint 21 | Basic practice; answer keys available. |
| Practice Round | Windows 11, Server 2022, Mint 21 + Cisco quiz/Packet Tracer | Test the competition software and networking workflow. |
| High School Round 1 | Windows 11, Mint 21 + Cisco | 230 total possible points currently listed. |
| Middle School Intro | Windows 11, Debian 12 + Cisco | 230 total possible points currently listed. |
| High School Round 2 | Windows 11, Server 2022, Debian 12 + Cisco | 330 total possible points currently listed. |
| State Round | Server 2022, Mint 21, Debian 12 + Cisco | High school: Platinum/Gold/Silver tiers; 400 possible points currently listed. |
| Semifinals | Mint 21, Server 2022, Debian 12; FreeBSD for Platinum; Cisco; web-based challenge for some tiers | Difficulty and task variety increase substantially. |
Do not wait for Round 1. Use the official unscored rounds and build repeatable habits before scores count.
Learn users/groups, strong passwords, permissions, updates, services, firewall basics, malware awareness, Linux commands, IP addressing, subnetting, and Packet Tracer navigation.
Use Training Round images with answer keys. Require students to explain why each change matters instead of only copying steps.
Run timed practices. Assign focus areas, maintain a change log, watch score changes, and rotate students so everyone develops more than one skill.
Use the Practice Round to test computers, network access, VMware, Cisco NetAcad, image downloads, passwords, and the full 4-hour workflow.
CyberPatriot keeps requirements relatively modest, but virtualization and network filtering can become major problems if they are not tested early.
| Requirement | Current official guidance |
|---|---|
| Host computer | 64-bit host computer and 64-bit operating system. |
| Processor | Minimum guidance lists 64-bit Intel i3 Sandy Bridge generation or better, or AMD Bulldozer generation or better. |
| Virtualization | CPU virtualization extensions such as Intel VT-x / AMD-V must be enabled in BIOS/UEFI when required. |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM minimum. |
| Storage | 40 GB free disk space minimum per host computer. |
| VM software | CyberPatriot currently lists VMware Workstation Pro 17.6.4 or later; verify the season-specific required version before competition. |
| Cisco | CyberPatriot 19 lists Cisco Packet Tracer 9.0.0. |
| Internet | DSL or faster; outbound HTTP port 80 and HTTPS port 443 access to competition servers is required. |
| Common issue | School/organization firewalls, filters, and proxies can block competition traffic. Run the official connection test before scored rounds. |
Training is the time for coaching. During an official round, competitors are responsible for their own team's work and must follow CyberPatriot's resource and assistance rules.
Coaches, mentors, team assistants, other teams, and non-team members cannot give competitors answers, suggestions, or hands-on help during the official competition period.
CyberPatriot rules allow specified internet, printed, electronic, and software resources under defined conditions. Students must know the current rules before competition.
Teams may not share active competition vulnerabilities, screenshots, answers, documents, or other restricted round information with other teams or online.
The competition is defensive. Attempts to attack competition infrastructure, perform unauthorized entry, or manipulate the scoring environment can lead to penalties or disqualification.
Organizations should budget early, but fee waivers make participation more accessible for several team types.
| Item | CyberPatriot 19 information |
|---|---|
| Open Division high school | $225 per team. |
| Middle School Division | $175 per team. |
| Early registration discount | Teams created before July 15 received a 20% discount for CP19. |
| Title I schools | Fee waiver available upon request with required proof/status documentation. |
| All-girl teams | Fee waiver available upon request after competitors are added to the roster. |
| JROTC / Civil Air Patrol | Fees are automatically waived according to the current Join the Competition page. |
| Payment deadline | November 5, 2026. |
This model is intentionally organization-neutral so it can be used by any eligible program. Always check CyberPatriot eligibility and current rules for your organization type.
Use these pages as the source of truth. CyberPatriot can update dates, systems, software versions, rules, point values, and registration information during the season.