CyberPatriot is a national youth cybersecurity competition commissioned by the United States Air Force Association, and our very own RMHS Cyber Club took 2nd place in the state of Illinois. With the skills that they are taught throughout this tournament, they can further their careers in cybersecurity and help protect individuals and organizations from malicious attackers.
Competitor Viram Shah was a part of the Cyber Team this year. “I believe the CyberPatriot tournament went well”, Shah recalls. “I feel like we placed respectively well”. 

Shah assisted the 101sec Team in the RMHS Cyber Club on Windows 10 and Windows Server 2019 operating systems. “It always gets more difficult as time goes on, but part of having a great team is that everyone knows different things and can help you learn new things you didn’t know about before that will literally give you hands-on experience in the Cybersecurity field in a way where you learn, laugh and play around the most,” Colin Cabana says.

In the RMHS Cyber Club, participants are introduced to different operating systems and are educated on their usage, security, and feature sets. Participants can choose between Ubuntu, a Linux-based operating system that is commonly used for servers due to its lightweight design, Windows Server 2019, and Windows 10- both operating systems which are known for their ease of use and user interfaces. 

“My favorite thing about [CyberPatriot] is the community we have there,” Viram says. 101sec has been one of the top teams in Illinois for 3 years in a row now. With RMHS being the home for four competing teams, all participating members share their knowledge with others and greatly expand their relationships with each other outside of the tournaments. “Anyone can join, even if you don’t know much about computers,” Shah mentions.

Shah is continuing his journey in the Information Technology field outside of the tournament through an apprenticeship offered by RMHS and going to a university to pursue majoring in computer science.