Coast Union High cybersecurity team awarded for California Mayors Cup victory

The Coast Union High School cybersecurity team received its awards last week for outscoring 32 other teams in the California Mayors Cyber Cup.

Over a two-day competition in February, the Coast Union team was challenged with several issues: They blocked users attempting to decrypt passwords, scanned for malware and viruses, they turned off ports available to unauthorized users and solved puzzles and located hidden files that were encrypted in binary.

Henry Danielson, technology director for the Coast Unified School District, said he is “Passionate about getting young people into these cyber careers. We are so proud of our students.”

The Coast team — Jonathan Jewel, Trent Ferguson, Fernando Sepulveda, Luis Plascencia, and Caiden Kennedy — has qualified for the California Cyber Innovation Challenge, held at Cal Poly in June.

“The win is a pretty huge accomplishment,” Coast teacher and cyber mentor Ayen Johnson said.