Annually, there is a CyberPatriot competition that occurs internationally. CyberPatriot is a program that allows anybody to compete in a networking security competition. Competitions include general information technology work, as well as securing the local network and each computer your team is given. Southwest students have attended CyberPatriot meetings and competitions throughout the years. 

“I feel like the best thing about CyberPatriot is no matter what your background is or what your skill set is, It’s a fun and engaging way to get an IT introduction,” coach Joseph Liberator said.

Teams will typically have four people in each team and a coach and/or mentors, although teams can range from 2-6 people within a team. Only five contestants on a team can participate in rounds.

Each round includes images (altered operating systems that each PC is assigned to), usually up to three images per team. Competitors can use any resources at their disposal but they cannot use other teams. Each image includes challenges and specific things that need to be found and corrected, listed or not. In most cases, each image has a narrative to go along with it to help clue in what contestants need to search through.

CyberPatriot competitions test knowledge of the operating system environments and surrounding infrastructure. CyberPatriot helps students grow and ensures that they learn more about operating systems such as GNU/Linux, Windows, and Windows Server 2019 and many in the future.