Athens, 15 October 2024
Germany is the winner of the 2024 edition of the ECSC, followed by Italy in second place and Poland in third place.
A total of 31 teams representing EU Member States and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries, as well as the 6 international guest teams of Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Kosovo, Singapore and USA took part in this year’s challenge. Japan, Lithuania and the United Kingdom participated as observers. With a total of 40 countries involved, this marks the 10th anniversary edition of ECSC, the largest edition to date.
The European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC) is an ENISA flagship initiative aiming at cultivating cybersecurity expertise by bringing together the top cybersecurity talents of Europe. Participants are offered the opportunity to collaboratively work along cybersecurity experts, advance their knowledge and skills, as well as get in touch with leading organisations in the field.
The awards were presented by Gaspare Ferraro and Paolo Prinetto, ECSC2024 Co-Chairs, Alessandro Armando, Director of the CINI Cybersecurity National Lab and Luca Nicoletti, Head of Industrial Service of ACN, to the following winning teams:
- 1st place: Germany
- 2nd place: Italy
- 3rd place: Poland
The EU Agency for Cybersecurity Executive Director, Juhan Lepassaar stated that “The European Cybersecurity Challenge succeeds in bolstering skills development and cybersecurity excellence of young talent across Europe. Through such initiatives, aspiring cybersecurity professionals of the future can test their skills in a collaborative environment of fair play and be driven to pursue a career in safeguarding security in the digital world.”
“Hosting this important competition in Italy for the first time has been significant for the Agency and the entire country, our congratulations go to Team Germany, the winning country. I would like to thank all the participants from the 37 countries who competed over the past two days. Italy was strongly committed to hosting the ECSC, and this was made possible thanks to the invaluable work of CINI Cybersecurity National Lab” said Bruno Frattasi, Director General of ACN.
The Director of the CINI Cybersecurity National Lab, Alessandro Armando said “Once again ECSC has succeeded in gathering hundreds among the most talented minds from all over Europe and overseas testing their skills by solving a variety of cybersecurity challenges. We are immensely proud to have contributed to the organization of this successful edition of ECSC by leveraging a sophisticated computing infrastructure set up by the experts of the CINI Cybersecurity National Lab”
“This edition of the ECSC has shown how advanced the skills of young European and international talents are in cybersecurity. Seeing so many bright young people working together to solve complex challenges has been inspiring. Italy is proud to have hosted an event that is not only a competition, but also a platform to build the future of digital security in Europe.”, “ECSC is not only an opportunity to test technical skills, but also to promote teamwork and international collaboration. The success of this edition underlines the importance of investing in new generations.” comment respectively Gaspare Ferraro and Paolo Prinetto, co-chairs of ECSC 2024.
The ECSC features a range of security-related CTF challenges over two days, encompassing hardware tasks, web and mobile security, cryptography, reverse engineering, binary exploitation, and forensics. Yet, possessing technical skills alone won’t guarantee success. Participants must work collaboratively within a dynamic environment, where swift and effective team-based decision-making is crucial.
Following the end of the competition, a bootcamp for female participants of the competing national teams was held to highlight diversity and female talent in the cybersecurity field. Best-performing contestants will form a dedicated female Team Europe that will take part in the Kunoichi cyber games in Tokyo in November 2024.
The 2025 edition of the European Cybersecurity Challenge will take place in October 2025 in Warsaw, Poland!
Further information
Source – ENISA