CyberPatriots!

I have said it before, and I will probably say it many more times... I love my job! This was the first year KTEC entered teams in the Air Force Association's CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. These all-girl, middle-school teams placed 2nd and 3rd in the entire state of Wisconsin!

These dedicated ladies had no previous experience in cyber security. They spent 13 Saturdays, 6 hours a session learning the skills of a newly hired IT professional tasked with managing the network of a small company. In the rounds of competition, teams were given a set of virtual images that represent operating systems and challenged with finding cyber security vulnerabilities within the images and hardening the system while maintaining critical services.

I have no idea how they did it. The extent of my cyber security knowledge is to change my password often. This awesome opportunity came about through the amazing partnership between KTEC and Leeward Business Advisors, a local IT company. Leeward Business Advisors’ CEO, Michael Polzin is the technical mentor for the teams, teaching IT knowledge and skills. He facilitated the six-hour training sessions, held at his IT offices, every Saturday through the competition season.

“Cyber security is critical. Protecting business and personal information is a growing and going concern the world over. We will not solve tomorrow's security problems without new and different thinking today. Leeward Business Advisors is continually seeking to increase the participation of females and minorities. We want greater diversity of thought leadership in our field of Information Technology. We are thrilled to be leading an all-female team for this year's Cyber Patriot Competition." ~ Michael Polzin

I cannot thank the Air Force Association, everyone at CyberPatriot, and LeewardBA for providing this amazing experience!