The National Cybersecurity Center is designated a Center of Excellence for CyberPatriot, the world’s largest cybersecurity competition for middle and high school students.
CyberPatriot is the Air Force Association’s National Youth Cyber Education Program, created to inspire K-12 students toward careers in cybersecurity or other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines critical to our nation’s future.
As a Center of Excellence, we assist the entire state of Colorado in helping middle and high schools setup up and establish their own cybersecurity program and CyberPatriot affiliate. We help schools by first giving teachers the training necessary to run a CyberPatriot program at their school. The NCC provides teachers with the opportunity to earn their own industry level certification while they are teaching. In addition to setting up the program, the NCC also provides students with additional resources that will also help them earn their own certification.
Other CyberPatriot Programs that The NCC provides to the entire community is:
More information about CyberPatriot can be found at www.uscyberpatriot.org.
Held during the summer months (June –August), AFA CyberCamps emphasize fun, hands-on learning of cybersecurity principles that are relevant and applicable to everyday life. Through this 20-hour, 5-day camp, students will learn the importance of cyber safety and how to protect their personal devices and information from outside threats. Camps are designed for high school or middle school students (at the discretion of the hosting organization). Any organization is welcome to host a camp at their location (or virtually) as a not-for-profit activity.
Camps are offered at a standard or advanced level, covering topics such as cyber ethics, Windows security, Linux security, and Cisco Networking (advanced camps only). All purchased camp curriculum includes access to required software, digital instructor guides, student workbooks, PowerPoint modules, and demo and competition images (virtual machines). Tech support from CyberPatriot staff is also available during normal business hours.
The CyberPatriot Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative (ESCEI) is a set of three interactive learning modules aimed at increasing the awareness of online safety and cybersecurity principles for K-6 students. The NCC either visits schools to present this material in person or provides the material directly to the school for teachers to present. Supplemental activities are also available.
The Tech Caregiver Program is a companion to CyberGenerations. As a Tech Caregiver, student and adult volunteers can complete a training course, pass an exam, and receive a certification to teach basic security measures to senior citizens in a way that is easy to understand. The goal is this program is to give back to the community by helping older populations recognize, understand, and safely avoid the online scams they are so often the target of. The NCC’s interns will be trained to give this training.
CyberGenerations –the Senior Citizens’ Cyber Safety Initiative –is designed to encourage and equip more seniors to practice cyber safety. The program covers topics such as password hygiene, malware and ransomware, marketing and fraud scams, and social media awareness. The program also provides resources for individuals who may have been a victim of a cybercrime.
CyberGenerations can be completed as a workshop for a group of interested participants, or it can be done individually wit the help of a self-paced guide. All resources are free and available for download on the CyberPatriot website.
The National Cybersecurity Center (NCC) is a Center of Excellence for CyberPatriot and is proud to serve all of Colorado Schools K-12). The CyberPatriot Center of Excellence (COE) designation is awarded to institutions or municipalities that excel in emphasizing cybersecurity and developing the workforce of tomorrow. To learn more about the NCC, click HERE!
CyberPatriot is AFA’s National Youth Cyber Education Program, created to motivate students toward careers in cybersecurity and other STEM disciplines. The program has a variety of offerings for K-12 students, as well as a cyber safety initiative for senior citizens and a community service opportunity for student and adult volunteers. To learn more about any of the programs offered by CyberPatriot, visit www.uscyberpatriot.org.
The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition is an online-based program that puts teams of high school and middle school students in the position of newly hired IT professionals tasked with managing the network of a small company. Through a series of online competition rounds, teams are given a set of virtual operating systems and are tasked with finding and fixing cybersecurity vulnerabilities while maintaining critical services. The top teams in the nation earn all-expenses-paid trips to Maryland for the National Finals Competition where they can earn national recognition and scholarship money.
Elementary School Cyber Education Initiative Using game-like computer training software, ESCEIis designed to:
- Excite students about education in cybersecurity and other STEM disciplines.
- Help students understand the widespread importance of cybersecurity in their everyday lives and equip them with skills to better protect themselves on the Internet
- Encourage students to apply cyber ethics principles in their online interactions
- FREE downloads available online
The NCC presents a series of cyber safety books to schools. The first book is Sarah the Cyber Hero. The book is a pre-K reader for younger children that introduces the topic of cybersecurity to early elementary youth. Digital and hard copies of the book are available free to teachers that want to present cyber safety to elementary school students.
The NCCSA Career & Technical Student Organization is designed for 6-12 grade students interested in exploring a career in cybersecurity 