Aditi Kumar

Over 5,000 teams from around the nation will compete in this year’s CyberPatriot XI competition, an event that will test participants on various skills related to cyber security. Chris Zou, CyberPatriots Club president and junior, plans to add Carmel teams to the mix. New this year, the club had its call-out meeting earlier this month in room F114.
Zou said that there are clubs at CHS that focus on computers and technology, “but there is nothing in the sense of general computer knowledge. What CyberPatriots does is test how good you are at the working of a computer. You don’t need to be good at programming or robotics. You just need to know how to use a computer well.”

Aditi Kumar

Theresa Kane, CyberPatriots Club sponsor and business teacher, said she likes that the club focuses on cyber security.
“Cyber security is (increasingly) important,” she said. “It is important that students know as much as possible about cyber security; it has been a very hot field for the past number of years and it is particularly important today. (The club) will obviously help them with their future academics. It will also help them be aware of how to stay safe online and promote safe online behavior.”
Ray Mo, CyberPatriots Club member and sophomore, said he also believes cyber security is becoming significantly more important in today’s society.
Mo said, “Cyber security is a growing issue as more people are putting their information online and in their devices. People should know that their information is secure and not compromised to the growing number of hackers or potentially exposed in any other way.”
Mo believes the importance of cyber security is probably the reason behind the club’s connection and foundation in the Air Force Association and various other military groups.
“(CyberPatriots) is essential to the government and the military’s function because there is vital information stored about people’s identities,” said Mo. “They really need to be secured in a way that no one from the outside can access these (files), so cyber security would be very important to them.”