I was recently looking for resources for high school students to learn about information security and found just a few places. What I was specifically looking for were non-college youth-focused resources and groups not just your normal “do a CTF or online course”…stuff tailored directly to high schoolers. Below is what I found.
The resources are (in no particular order):
- CyberAces
- CYBERPATRIOT
- Hacker High School
- picoCTF
CyberAces
Features:
- Trainings
- Must register to see them
- Competition
- State level
Synopsis from their site:
“We identify, enable, and encourage young Americans with high aptitude for technical achievement in information security to discover their talents, develop their passion, and determine where their talent can be nurtured so they can make a major contribution to the physical and economic security of the US and its enterprises.
The Cyber Aces foundation achieves its mission by offering challenging and realistic cybersecurity competitions, training camps, and educational initiatives through which high school, college students, and young professionals develop the practical skills needed to excel as cybersecurity practitioners and to become highly valued citizen-technologists.”
My comments:
CYBERPATRIOT
https://www.uscyberpatriot.org/ – US Air Force Association
Features:
- Trainings
- PDFs
- Images
- Webex Recordings
- Competition
- Local, Regional and then National
Synopsis from their site:
“At the core of the CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Education is the National Youth Cyber Defense Competition. The CyberPatriot program began in 2009 with a proof of concept competition among six high school Air Force JROTC teams and one Civil Air Patrol team. Since then, the program has experienced per annum growth of more than 20%. The CyberPatriot National Youth Cyber Defense Competition is now open to public, private, and charter high schools, home schools, JROTC units, CAP Squadrons, NSCC Units, scouting troops, and Boys & Girls Clubs. Additionally, CyberPatriot VI marked the introduction of a Middle School Division, which welcomes public and private schools, as well as the other organizations listed above to field teams of students pursuing middle school or junior high education.
Prior to each round, teams download “virtual image” representations of operating systems with known flaws or cybersecurity “vulnerabilities.” The goal is to find and fix these flaws while simultaneously keeping specified computer functions (“services,” such as email) working. The central CyberPatriot Competition System (CCS) scores teams’ progress towards the successful completion of each image.“
My comments:
Hacker High School
http://www.hackerhighschool.org/ – ISECOM
Features:
- Trainings
- PDFs
Synopsis from their site:
“Hacker Highschool provides a set of hands-on, e-book lessons designed specifically for teens to learn cyber security and critical Internet skills. These are lessons that challenge teens to be as resourceful and creative as hackers with topics like safe Internet use, web privacy, online research techniques, network security, and even dealing with cyber-bullies. The full program contains teaching materials in multiple languages, physical books with additional lessons, and back-end support for high school teachers and home schooling parents.“
My comments:
picoCTF
Features:
- Trainings
- Videos
- Competition
- Yes
Synopsis from their site:
“picoCTF is a computer security game targeted at high school students and above. The game consists of a series of challenges centered around a unique storyline where participants must reverse engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do whatever it takes to solve the challenge. The challenges are all set up with the intent of being hacked, making it an excellent, legal way to get hands-on experience.”
My comments:
If you know of high school groups (not general or college ones), please reach out and let me know.