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Eleventh-Grader Sergio Cifuentas of Prince William County, VA is the Overall National Winner of the MS-ISAC® Annual Kids Safe Online Poster Contest

May 24, 2018

East Greenbush, NY

Twelve Other Student State Winners Will Also Be Featured in the 2019 MS-ISAC Cybersecurity Calendar

A Prince William County, VA, eleventh-grader Sergio Cifuentas has been named the overall national winner of the CIS® (Center for Internet Security, Inc.) Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC) annual Kids Safe Online Poster Contest. Cifuentas’ artwork will be featured on the cover of MS-ISAC’s 2019 Cybersecurity Calendar.

Twelve other state winners from the contest will also be featured in the calendar, which will be distributed nationwide as part of Cyber Security Awareness Month (CSAM) in October 2018.

“One of the most rewarding things about the National Kids Safe Online Poster Contest is that it allows us to step aside and let our youth educate their peers on how to stay safe online. The posters share tips for safe web surfing and the responsible use of social media platforms,” said Thomas Duffy, Chair of the MS-ISAC, and CIS Senior Vice President of Operations and Services. “Given the enormous talent of all of our entries, we hope some of these young artists, and those who view their messages will consider a career in cybersecurity. The U.S. presently has 350,000 job openings in cybersecurity. We should encourage our young talent to become next generation of cyber heroes,” he added.

Out of respect for the contestants’ safety, only a limited amount of information is released by CIS. Representatives of the media who need more information on the winners can contact Barbara Ware, CIS Director of Communications at [email protected].

The complete list of 2018 Kids Safe Online poster contest winners is:

Grades K-5:

  1. Dhruv, Grade 4, New Jersey
  2. Meghan, Grade 4, New York
  3. Jayda, Grade 5, North Carolina
  4. Madison, Grade 5, New York
  5. Aubrie, Grade 4, Delaware

Grades 6-8:

  1. Isabella, Grade 6, New Jersey
  2. Stephanie, Grade 7, North Carolina*
  3. Diya, Grade 7, New Jersey*
  4. Liane, Grade 7, New York

Grades 9-12:

  1. Sergio, Grade 11, Virginia* – Overall National Winner
  2. Danielle, Grade 11, New York*
  3. Izabel, Grade 11, New Jersey
  4. Michelle, Grade 12, New York

Contest Details

The contest is open to all students in public and private schools, and youth organizations in kindergarten through 12th grade in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and U.S. and military installations in foreign nations. Schools designate one teacher or administrator to select the entries that are submitted. Home-schooled students submit entries directly to the MS-ISAC each year.

*These winners’ artwork will be made into posters in addition to being featured in the MS-ISAC calendar.

Each state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) government in the United States is invited to conduct a poster contest within their jurisdiction and submit a maximum of 15 entries per entity (5 from each group) K-5, 6-8 and 9-12. Thirteen winners are selected to represent the 12 calendar months of the year plus the cover. They will have their artwork in the MS-ISAC’s nationally distributed Cybersecurity Calendar. In addition, those with winning entries will be sent calendars and educational materials to promote cybersecurity within their school districts.

About MS-ISAC

The Multi-State Information Sharing & Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) is a voluntary and collaborative effort designated by the Department of Homeland Security as the key resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for the nation’s state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) governments. Through its state-of-the-art 24/7 Security Operations Center, the MS-ISAC serves as a central resource for situational awareness and incident response for SLTT governmental entities.

About CIS

CIS® (Center for Internet Security, Inc.) is a forward-thinking, non-profit entity that harnesses the power of a global IT community to safeguard private and public organizations against cyber threats. The CIS Controls™ and CIS Benchmarks™ are the global standard and recognized best practices for securing IT systems and data against the most pervasive attacks. These proven guidelines are continuously refined and verified by a volunteer, global community of experienced IT professionals. Our CIS Hardened Images are virtual machine emulations preconfigured to provide secure, on-demand, and scalable computing environments in the cloud. CIS is home to both the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center® (MS-ISAC®), the go-to resource for cyber threat prevention, protection, response, and recovery for U.S. State, Local, Tribal, and Territorial government entities, and the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center™ (EI-ISAC™), which supports the cybersecurity needs of U.S. State, Local and Territorial elections offices.