Coast Union cyber teams advance in competition

Thieving, tech-savvy hackers continue to impose their dark expertise on both civilian and government servers as well as websites across the U.S. and worldwide. But two teams of Coast Union “Cyber Patriots” are receiving training to pave the way toward possible vocations as IT professionals — in the vital areas of cybersecurity, engineering and other science-related careers.

In statewide competition this past June, the CUHS Cyber Patriots were named “Best New Team.” And in competition on Dec. 8, both of Coast’s team qualified for the “Gold Tier” (between Platinum and Silver) level during statewide competition, which will continue at Coast Union on Jan. 19-21.

Led by Coast Union instructor Ayen Johnson, Coast’s Cyber Team 1 had a combined score of 380, and Cyber Team 2’s combined score was 318. “Both scores were out of 600, and you had to be in the top 40 percent to qualify for the gold tier,” Johnson wrote in an email interview.

Following the January competition, the top 25 percent of schools will move on to the national semifinals in February, Johnson said. Coast Union and San Luis Obispo High School are the only two schools in the county involved in the competition.

Coast’s Cyber Patriots include Trent Ferguson; Luis Plascencia; Alam Romo; Jonathan Jewel; Antonio and Crecencio Antunez; Jack Azevedo; Alex Beccerril and Daniel Dubnow.

“The teams are looking forward to the next competition and to see how well they perform in comparison to the rest of the state,” Johnson said.

This story was originally published January 3, 2018 at 9:23 AM with the headline "Coast Union cyber teams advance in competition."