Day One: The Adventure Begins

An Exciting First Day of the CyberTexas Foundation CyberPatriot Advanced Camp at St. Mary's University

There is something special about walking back onto the campus of St. Mary's University each summer. It marks the beginning of another opportunity to inspire, challenge, and prepare the next generation of cyber defenders. Today was exactly that as the CyberTexas Foundation CyberPatriot Advanced Camp officially kicked off—and what an incredible first day it was!

One of the highlights of the day was welcoming our outstanding partners from CrowdStrike. Their volunteers spent the day working alongside our students, sharing their real-world cybersecurity experience while mentoring campers through hands-on activities. Their willingness to invest in these students is one of the many reasons this camp continues to be such a success.

It was great to see so many familiar faces. Many of our students returned after attending this year's Standard Camp, while several came back after participating in last year's Advanced Camp. I was especially excited to see two members of my Medina Valley AFJROTC CyberPatriot team back for another week of advanced training, along with a young lady who once again made the trip from Killeen, Texas to attend. We also welcomed several new students who were eager to jump into the world of advanced cybersecurity.

⚔️ The Rules... and the Active Persistent Threat

Every camp begins with the rules, but this year I reminded everyone of one very important fact:

I am the Active Persistent Threat (APT).

Throughout the week, my mission is simple—to exploit every opportunity students give me. That means unattended devices are fair game.

I reminded everyone that cybersecurity isn't just about protecting computers with software. Physical security is just as important as logical security.

I even shared that during our Standard Camp my numbers were down, and I was hoping to improve them this week.

The students laughed...

...but they quickly realized I wasn't joking.

🛡️ Cyber Viking Lesson: Your first firewall is you.

I gave everyone one simple piece of advice: Never leave your phone unattended.

⚔️ Day One Begins with a Capture the Flag Competition

Since this is our Advanced Camp, we skipped the warm-up activities and jumped immediately into a custom Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.

I designed the CTF around the exact topics we'll cover throughout the week, giving students an opportunity to preview what's ahead while challenging themselves from the very beginning.

⚔️ Windows Challenges (20)

🛡️ GUI Utilities

🛡️ Microsoft Management Console (MMC)

🛡️ Event Viewer

🛡️ Services

🛡️ Windows Registry

🛡️ Local Users & Groups

🛡️ PowerShell

🛡️ Command Prompt (CMD)

⚔️ Linux Challenges (25)

🪓 File Permissions

🪓 Users and Group

s🪓 sudo

🪓 Processes

🪓 systemd

🪓 cron

🪓 PAM

🪓 Networking

🪓 Log Analysis

⚔️ Digital Forensics (15)

🔎 Base64

🔎 Hexadecimal

🔎 Steganography

🔎 Password Hashes

🔎 Metadata

🔎 Character Encodings

⚔️ Competition Images (20)

🐉 Hidden User Accounts

🐉 Weak Passwords

🐉 Rogue Services

🐉 Malware Persistence

🐉 Firewall Configuration Issues

🐉 Network Shares

🐉 Startup Entries

🐉 Security Policy Settings

The CTF wasn't simply about earning points—it was designed to expose students to the same types of scenarios they'll encounter during CyberPatriot competitions and throughout their cybersecurity careers.

⚔️ The Active Persistent Threat Strikes...

Then came lunch.

While everyone enjoyed their break, the Active Persistent Threat went to work.

By the end of lunch, I had successfully "compromised" four unattended phones.

Rather than doing anything malicious, I decided to make the lesson memorable. I took selfies ("ussies") with each phone and snapped fun pictures with other campers before the owners even realized their phones were missing.

Watching their reactions afterward was priceless.

Even better was overhearing several campers say:

"That's why I never leave my phone unattended."

Mission accomplished.

🛡️ Cyber Viking Lesson: The easiest attack to stop is the one that never gets the opportunity to begin.

Sometimes the best cybersecurity lesson isn't delivered through a PowerPoint presentation—it comes from experiencing a realistic security mistake in a safe environment.

⚔️ The Topic Everyone Loves to Hate...

After lunch, we moved into what many CyberPatriot competitors consider their most intimidating subject:

🌐 Cisco Networking

Now, if you've coached CyberPatriot teams as long as I have, you quickly learn that networking is rarely anyone's favorite topic.

Whether it's students from my Medina Valley AFJROTC teams or campers I've taught over the years, networking often gets a bad reputation.

In my experience, it usually comes down to one thing:

Subnetting.

Students often see networking as more intimidating than a Windows or Linux competition image because subnetting seems like an entirely different language.

My goal today was to change that.

Instead of memorizing formulas, we focused on understanding why everything works.

Together we explored:

⚔️ What an IP address really is

⚔️ How it is divided into four octets

⚔️ Why each octet contains eight bits

⚔️ The value of each individual bit

⚔️ How binary creates every possible IP address

Once everyone understood the foundation, we introduced CIDR notation, discussing how CIDRs divide networks into subnet ranges.

From there we covered subnet masks, how they work alongside IP addresses, and why they are essential to networking.

Using the whiteboard, I built a subnetting reference chart that students could use throughout the exercise.

⚔️ Lab Two: Conquering the Network

Each student team received an IP address and a CIDR notation.

Their mission was to determine:

🛡️ Network Address

🛡️ First Usable Host Address

🛡️ Last Usable Host Address

🛡️ Broadcast Address

Rather than simply giving them the answers, I encouraged the teams to use the subnetting chart we had built together and reason through each challenge.

Watching the students collaborate, debate solutions, and gradually gain confidence was one of the highlights of the afternoon.

Our CrowdStrike volunteers did an outstanding job mentoring students, asking guiding questions, and helping each team think through the problems instead of simply giving away the answers.

As I moved from table to table, I reminded everyone that these subnetting exercises closely mirror what they will encounter during CyberPatriot competitions. Once students realized subnetting follows logical patterns instead of random rules, many began looking at networking in an entirely different way.

⚔️ A Fantastic Start to the Week

Day One was everything I hoped it would be.

⚔️ Students challenged themselves through an advanced Capture the Flag competition.

🛡️ They learned why physical security is every bit as important as logical security.

🐉 They experienced firsthand how easy it is for an Active Persistent Threat to exploit an unattended device.

🌐 They began building the networking knowledge and subnetting skills that will help them succeed during CyberPatriot competitions.

🤝 Most importantly, they worked together, encouraged one another, asked great questions, and embraced every challenge placed before them.

This was only the beginning.

Over the next four days, these students will tackle Windows and Linux system hardening, advanced networking, digital forensics, cybersecurity investigations, and many more hands-on challenges designed to strengthen their technical skills and critical thinking.

If Day One is any indication, this is going to be an incredible week of learning, teamwork, and cyber adventures.

Until then...

⚔️ Shield your devices.🛡️ Defend your network.🐉 Think like a defender.

Cyber Like A Viking!

If you'd like, I can also give this a more story-driven "Cyber Viking" voice with humor woven throughout, making it feel like your popular LinkedIn and blog posts while still keeping it professional.