WALTHAM, Mass., Oct. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTN) announced it will be a Diamond Sponsor of the Air Force Association's (AFA) CyberPatriot National High School Cyber Defense Competition. The sponsorship is part of Raytheon's broader efforts to raise awareness of cybersecurity issues and promote cyber resiliency as a critical component of our nation's defense and security.

The announcement coincides with Raytheon's ongoing participation in National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM), a nationwide effort throughout October to promote safe and secure online behaviors and habits.

With its Diamond level sponsorship of the CyberPatriot competition, Raytheon is helping to encourage students to pursue careers in cyber disciplines critical to our nation's future. CyberPatriot helps develop computer engineering talent to become the nation's future cyber defenders and cyber leaders, to secure the nation's networks from hostile and malicious intrusions.

"At Raytheon, we are committed to encouraging our nation's future leaders to excel in the vital STEM fields, including cybersecurity," said Lynn Dugle, president of Raytheon's Intelligence and Information Systems business. "As we join government and private citizens throughout National Cyber Security Awareness Month to encourage today's Internet users to protect themselves and the cyber infrastructure, we're proud to support CyberPatriot to encourage and inspire tomorrow's generation of online citizens to do the same."

"One of the chief goals of CyberPatriot is to prepare college- and career-ready students with not just technical skills, but also invaluable experience in teamwork, leadership and critical-thinking," said Bernie Skoch, CyberPatriot Commissioner. "As Raytheon holds a culture that embraces a strong commitment to STEM, we look forward to this partnership with them that will certainly add another level of innovation and dedication to advancing STEM in today's youth."

About CyberPatriot

The world's largest national high school cyberdefense competition, the CyberPatriot challenge brings together the best and brightest students in STEM and cybersecurity. Students are faced with real-life cyber scenarios as they work to identify, mitigate and defend cybernetworks from threats. The AFA created the CyberPatriot competition as its contribution to improve U.S. students' assessment benchmarks in STEM. The program targets all high school students as early as possible to motivate them to explore STEM.

About the Air Force Association

The Air Force Association is a non-profit, independent, professional military and aerospace education association. Its mission is to promote a dominant United States Air Force and a strong national defense, and to honor airmen and our Air Force heritage. To accomplish this, AFA does the following:

• EDUCATE the public on the critical need for unmatched aerospace power and a technically superior workforce to ensure U.S. national security.
• ADVOCATE for aerospace power and STEM education.
• SUPPORT the total Air Force family and promote aerospace education.

AFA has 200 chapters nationally and internationally representing more than 108,000 members. Visit AFA on the Internet at www.afa.org.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2011 sales of $25 billion and 71,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 90 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass. For more about Raytheon, visit us at www.raytheon.com and follow us on Twitter @Raytheon.

Media Contact
Tina Martineau
781.522.6490
corporatepr@raytheon.com 

 

SOURCE Raytheon Company