Washington STEM?Academy students sought out hackers last month in the Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot competition, according to a news release from the AFA. The competition included 4,400 schools throughout the United States. CyberPatriot is made possible by the Northrup Grumman Foundation. Two teams of girls and three teams of boys with five members each competed from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m. The teams were coached by STEM instructor David Burten Burten’s computer teams quickly found the hackers. They learned that to rid a computer of hackers can’t be done by just pushing the delete key. Far more sophisticated procedures need to be found or engineered by the students to eradicate the cyber threat. Time is precious, and while hunting for the hacker, a winning team must be fast and accurate to score points, according to a news release issued by the group. Observing the CyberPatriot competition was Principal Tom Ray, Air Force Association Chapter 411 President Dr. Chuck Hassel, Vice President of Aerospace Education John Peyton and Vice President of Communications and photographer Larry Michael.
