Hacking Computers as a Team

Huntington Parks legal “hacking” team is doing outstanding this season. Of course, they didn’t get past round 3,  but it’s not always about winning.

With every loss, there is knowledge to be gained. Myself being a part of this club can vouch that our team skills have improved over the span of 2 years with the new team members.  

If you have no clue what I’m talking about then let me explain. CyberPatriot is an afterschool program offered by the Wood Craft Rangers in room 80. This program teaches students how to protect themselves and others from online cyber attacks caused by “hackers”.  

Using these taught skills, students all over the globe compete in a competition in which they try to secure their systems by fixing many vulnerabilities as they can in the span of six hours. Finals are held in an all-expense paid trip to Baltimore in the city of Maryland. Winners of this competition get national recognition and scholarship money.

Myself being a member of this program, I can say that this season was one of our best, even if we didn’t get as far as last year. The CyberPatriot group has been competing here at Huntington Park High School from 4pm to 10pm, which is weird because they usually compete at other high schools around LA.

Being the top 12% of the nation who made it into semi-finals last year which also made us the top 3% in the United States. We were a potential threat to other top schools around the nation. One feat they’ve had this season was getting 2nd place in an intermediate level and placing 8th at an LAUSD wide competition, beating out one of many top tier teams at North Hollywood High School which are reigned champions over all other schools.

By Joel Rivas, Technology Editor

Image Source: Riverside Research

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