🛡️⚔️ Summer of Cyber 2025: The Cyber Viking’s Tour Comes to a Close🛡️⚔️

The Summer of Cyber 2025 came to an end on Friday, July 18th, and what a whirlwind of excitement, education, and empowerment it was! Over the course of six incredible events, I had the honor of speaking to future cyber defenders, passionate educators, and industry professionals across Texas. From STARBASE to BSides to CyberPatriot camps, it was a non-stop mission to share knowledge and build the next generation of cyber warriors.

Here’s a full recap of my Summer of Cyber 2025 speaking engagements:

🎤 1. DoD STARBASE Kelly – San Antonio, TX (June 4)

The summer kicked off with an unforgettable visit to DoD STARBASE Kelly, where I spoke to a group of eager 5th graders about online safety, digital citizenship, and the basics of cybersecurity. Their curiosity and excitement were unmatched. We even explored ethical hacking and how they could become cyber defenders in the future. The energy in the room was proof that it’s never too early to plant the seeds of cyber awareness.

🎤 2. WeTeach_CS Summit – Austin, TX (June 8-10)

Next stop: Austin for the WeTeach_CS Summit! I presented on how to bring Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions and cybersecurity fundamentals into middle and high school classrooms. We discussed student engagement, competition strategy, and how tools like CyberPatriot and CTFs can ignite curiosity and build technical skills. It was incredible to see so many educators fired up and ready to take cyber back to their schools.

🎤 3. BSides SATX 2025 – San Antonio, TX (June 21)

I had the privilege of speaking at BSides SATX 2025, delivering a session titled “Safe in Digital Playgrounds: Protecting Children from Online Predators on Roblox, Minecraft, and Discord..” We tackled tough but necessary conversations about online predators, dangerous platforms, and how cybersecurity education can be a life-saving intervention. The crowd was all in, and the post-talk discussions proved just how much this message resonated with both the InfoSec community and educators.

🎤 4. CyberPatriot Standard Camp – St. Mary’s University (June 23-27)

In early July, I led the CyberTexas Foundation CyberPatriot Standard Camp at St. Mary’s University, where students dove headfirst into the fundamentals of cyber defense. We covered:

Windows hardening and user account controls

Basic Linux command line navigation

Introduction to Cisco Packet Tracer

And of course, daily Cyber Threat Defender card game battles at lunch!

Campers left more confident, skilled, and hungry to learn more. For many, it was their first step into the cyber arena—and they crushed it.

🎤 5. CyberPatriot Advanced Camp – St. Mary’s University (July 14-18)

The final stop on the tour was the CyberPatriot Advanced Camp, where returning campers and high school cyber veterans leveled up their skills. We covered:

Advanced Linux administration and file system permissions

Deep dive into Cisco networking, subnetting, and device configuration

Real-world command line tools like netstat, icacls, and Sysinternals Suite

And of course... the legendary Cyber Viking CTF and CTD showdown between “Firewire” and “Laps”!

Special thanks to the amazing mentors from CrowdStrike who volunteered their time to support the students. You made a massive impact.

🧠 Reflections from the Cyber Road

The Summer of Cyber 2025 was more than just a string of events—it was a movement. A movement to inspire, educate, and build the cyber warriors of tomorrow. Whether speaking to 5th graders just learning what a password is or coaching high schoolers through their first Cisco lab, every moment reaffirmed why I do what I do.

To the educators, students, professionals, and volunteers who made this summer possible: thank you.

Until the next mission…

– Frank Hall | The Cyber Viking