International Cybersecurity Challenge: Let's Cheer for Team Europe!

Formed by seventeen young talents in total, including fifteen main team members and two alternate members, Team Europe will fly to San Diego, California, USA, to compete in the 2^nd International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC) from 31 July to 4 August.

The new team includes members from fourteen different European countries with ages ranging from 20 to 25 and counts 2 females.

‘Team Europe’ was officially announced today by Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission.

Margaritis Schinas, Vice President of the European Commission, said: said: “Last year already, Team Europe showed the unique cyber skills and talents we have in the European Union. What Team Europe is doing is inspiring for all of us, and especially for young people who want to join the cyber field. This is vitally important, as Europe needs many more young, talented cyber enthusiasts to address today’s and tomorrow’s cyber challenges. The EU Cybersecurity Skills Academy that we recently launched will help meet this need.”

Juhan Lepassaar, Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA), said: “It is a great satisfaction to see the level of competence and motivation driving such young talents to engage in such high-level challenges. I see Team Europe as the evidence we do have talents ready to meet the demands of today’s and tomorrow’s EU cybersecurity job market. I trust the future of our EU cybersecurity will be in good hands.”

Team Europe, said: “We have been training for many hours per day to compete this summer in San Diego representing Europe’s top cybersecurity talent. It requires much effort, dedication and courage to compete against seven formidable teams and achieve greatness on the global stage of ICC. In order to defend the title that we secured last year, we must conquer an array of intricate challenges that will test our ingenuity and the strategic approach we developed with our coaches. We accept the challenge!"

How was Team Europe selected and trained?

ENISA trained and evaluated the competitors with the support of five external experts, the Team Europe coaches, who assisted with the selection process of the final team, namely Sanne Maasakkers, Pedro Adão, Johannes Kadak, Benjamin Kral and Mario Polino.

ENISA organised four bootcamps, an online Capture The Flag (CTF) qualifier and a number of team building activities over the past year. Fifty-five candidates from twenty-seven different European countries joined the training activities which led to the selection of the final Team Europe.

Final countdown is on for Team Europe with the last bootcamp before the competition that will be taking place from 7 to 9 July in Lisbon, Portugal.

On behalf of the US Cyber Team, PlayCyber (a Katzcy division) is hosting the 2023 International Cybersecurity Championship & Conference (IC3), featuring the International Cybersecurity Challenge (ICC). This showcase event features top rising talent in cybersecurity with the aim to foster awareness, skills development, and career opportunities in cybersecurity using a variety of games and cybersecurity challenges. The event will gather actors from industry, education, and government, and will stage young cybersecurity skilled talents worldwide. Team Europe will have to contend with another 7 teams, representing Africa, Asia, Canada, Latin America, Middle East, Oceania, and the United States of America.

Stay tuned!

Stay tuned on social media via #TeamEurope from 31 July to 4 August 2023 to experience the second edition of the International Cybersecurity Challenge from the inside.

ENISA would like to thank this year’s sponsors Accenture, Ubitech and  Netcompany-Intrasoft for their valuable support to the preparation activities of Team Europe for ICC 2023.

Cyber skills

These objectives are also those engraved into the Cybersecurity strategy of the European Union, further developed within the frame of the Cybersecurity Skills Academy recently proposed.

The proposed Cybersecurity Skills Academy falls into the scope the European Year of Skills 2023 of the European Union. The Academy is designed to bring together private and public initiatives aimed at promoting cybersecurity skills at European and national levels. The ultimate objective of the Academy is to increase the European cybersecurity workforce and upskill cybersecurity professionals, and make them visible on an online platform.

Further information

Team Europe presentation and welcome message by EC Vice President Margaritis Schinas

Competition website - IC3 website

ENISA topic – European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC)

Contact

For press questions and interviews, please contact press (at) enisa.europa.eu