CyberPatriot is preparing for the national finals competition, which will take place from March 17 to 21 in Bethesda, Maryland. To prepare, sponsor Carey Anderson said the team will continue to study the rulebook for the competition.

“There’s a large rulebook that we’re reading through to make sure we understand it because it’s the first time we’ve ever been to nationals,” she said. “There (are) so many differences (between) what we’ve been doing as far as our (remote) rounds (and the rules at nationals). My rulebook just for nationals is 40 pages. If we go against any of (the rules), we can be disqualified.”

After nationals, David Racovan, CyberPatriot leader and junior, said the club may host capture-the-flag (CTF) competitions, which tests competitors on computer security.

“We’re tentatively possibly going to have a meeting for CTFs later on in the semester, but right now that is unscheduled,” he said. “After that, we’ll be getting ready for next year for a new year of CyberPatriot.”

Anderson said she hopes the team’s involvement in the national competition will allow interest in cybersecurity to grow in future years.

“For us to get this far only having (had) cybersecurity classes for three years (is) amazing,” she said. “(I) hope that people can see that (cybersecurity) crosses over so many different disciplines and not just business and not just computer science. This is going to be important for everyone in the future to keep themselves safe online.”