Walnut High School students have used their in-depth knowledge of computers to log into an elite level of cybersecurity success.
Advisor Nick Blackford is leading a team that includes Daniel Ji, Zhenkai Weng, Jason Wang, Eric Wang, Lucas He, and Joshua Hsu. They currently rank 7th in the nation out of 2,951 teams and earned an all expensed paid trip to the National Finals in Bethesda, Maryland March 17-21, 2022.
The National Youth Cyber Defense Competition, also known as CyberPatriot, challenges youth to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities in virtual operating systems. Teams that create the safest and most reliable computer systems win each contest.
Each team receives a set of virtual operating systems and must find and fix potential cybersecurity vulnerabilities that pop up. They must repair these vulnerabilities while maintaining critical computer services for the virtual company. They earn points for handling these tasks in a quick, complete, and professional manner.
