Alamo Academies: 1 Hackers: 0

Alamo Academies is a program that prepares young San Antonians for well-paid professional careers.

The academies offer dual credit programs that ease students into their college studies.

Cyberpatriot IV is a competition devised by the Air Force Association and sponsored by Northrop Grumman, a leading global security company. Their partnership with Alamo Colleges promotes a dominant U.S. Air Force and a strong national defense.

The competition was March 23 at the Gaylord Hotel in Washington, D.C., with 12 teams in the division.

The first part of the competition was five hours, and the objective was to ward off hackers from corrupting or stealing information. Active hackers attempt to infiltrate the computers, and the students fight back to prevent the intrusion.

Computer information systems Professor Mike Matuszek said, “My students were frustrating the hackers.”

Students must protect 10 computers, but only five students can operate at once.

Forensics made up the second part of the competition. The teams had to examine a body, actually a dummy, and analyze the evidence. The competition was too close to call so the forensics portion was included. Normally, it is excluded.

At the awards ceremony that evening, the Alamo Academies team was awarded a first-place trophy, a gold cup overflowing with microchips.

“When third and second place were called, we grew a little nervous, but then they called out our team for first place,” Matuszek said.

The winning students each earned a medal and a $2,000 scholarship.

For more information, call Alamo Academies at 210-485-0811.