Bratislava, 30 October 2023
The Junior Cybersecurity Team represented Slovakia in the European final of The European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC) in Hamara, Norway. 34 teams from EU Member States and hosted teams from Canada, Georgia, Serbia, Costa Rica, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates took part in the ninth edition.
The contest aims to support and develop young talents and is organised by the EU Agency for Cybersecurity ENISA. The teams deal with tasks from different areas, such as web and network security, mobile security, crypto hooks, reverse engineering and digital forensia.
‘Team Slovakia consists of nine boys and girl and the average age is 21 years. We have higher education students from both Bratislava and foreign faculties and one junior is already working in public administration,” says team manager Alexander Húsková from the Cybersecurity Competence and Certification Centre. The representative team has been preparing since March, with members selected from cyber security competitions.
In the overall assessment, Team Slovakia ranked 23 rd ranked in the specialised section of the ‘Attack & Defense’ (Attack & Defense) competition. For Slovakia, it was only the second year when it set up a competitive team and entered a highly professional and competitive environment.
“During the competition, we have improved considerably in communication and cooperation, which I see as an increasingly important aspect of problem solving than I have thought so far. Alongside the competitions, we had the opportunity to discover peers, take new friends, experience part of a foreign culture and also show others ourselves,” describes the Adam Hadar contest.
Adam Hadar was nominated to the team as a participant in the CybeGame National Cybersecurity Game: “I ultimately see the ECSC as one of the biggest shifts in my hacker career so far and I am glad to have been given the opportunity to represent my country. For future talent, such action is a great motivation to advance with knowledge and I believe it will help build a stronger cyber security community in Slovakia.”
ENISA’s Executive Director Juhan Lepassaar highlights here the important dimension of building collective resilience: “The competition increases the networking opportunities that future generations need. We have a duty to help young people find the profession they are best suited to have a significant impact on the protection of digital assets and data and ultimately protect our entire digital life.” The European Cybersecurity Challenge’s three winners come from Germany, Switzerland and Denmark.
“The whole world and Slovakia are aware of the strategic importance of cybersecurity and, at the same time, the extreme lack of professionals in this field. This is why education and search is now the most important task for states and firms
talent. The Digital Coalition has long been carrying out a number of activities in this area, but close cooperation with the state and other partners is also needed to ensure a truly comprehensive approach to the issue in our country and implement the necessary systemic changes,” concludes the President of the Digital Coalition, Mário Lelovský.
The official National Contact Point of The European Cybersecurity Challenge in Slovakia is the Cybersecurity Competence and Certification Centre. The general partner of the Slovak team is the Digital Coalition – National Coalition for Digital Skills and Professions of the Slovak Republic.
