Young talent discovered at Cyber Security Challenge Belgium 2023
Once again this year, IT students competed at the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium (CSCBE) finals, on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 March 2023, to finish in first place with their team of four. Two weeks earlier, more than 800 students from 45 different universities and colleges started the 'online qualifiers'. After these qualifiers, the top 150 participants were left to prove themselves further at last weekend's finals. For eight years, the CSCBE initiative has been raising students' awareness and interest in a career in cybersecurity, contributing significantly to closing the gap in the cybersecurity market.
In the 2023 edition, the well-deserved honour went to the Royal Military Hackademy team of students Sébastien Martinez Balbuena, Romain Jennes, Jules Oosterlynck and Alex Van Mechelen. In addition to fame, the winning team could count on the now famous grand prize: a trip to the DEF CON hacker conference in Las Vegas and a renowned SANS training course. The winners are also guaranteed a place on the 2023 Belgian Red Daemons team. This team is a delegation composed of 10 students who will represent Belgium at the European Cyber Security Challenge (ECSC) 2023, which will take place from 24 to 27 October 2023 in Hamar, Norway.
CSCBE inspired us to take a look at the world of cybersecurity four years ago. The quality of the organisation and the level of participants has improved tremendously since then. Our team has been training continuously over the past few years, so we are very pleased to have finally won the top prize.
More than a match
In response to the massive increase in widespread, sophisticated and targeted cyber threats, the field of cyber security has grown exponentially over the past decade. However, the number of skilled and qualified workers in this field has not increased sufficiently, resulting in a failure to meet labour demand. Obviously, this poses a major challenge to both economic development and national security in Belgium (and the rest of the world), especially given the rapid digitalisation of the global economy and conflicts between states. Therefore, training and recruiting young cybersecurity talent is crucial.
Fortunately, the number of cybersecurity programmes and students in higher education is increasing. In addition, organising activities such as cybersecurity training, challenges and competitions not only helps raise young people's awareness of cybersecurity and a career in this field, but also helps organisations identify young talent. For instance, 18 of the 20 organisations sponsoring the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium are actively looking for cybersecurity experts. So for students, the event is not only fun to participate, but also a great opportunity to talk about job opportunities with the participating companies.
To outsiders, it may seem boring, but appearances can be deceiving. The students take on various challenges that test their shrewdness in cryptography, reverse engineering, web and mobile application security. There is a fine dose of gamification in this competition, with crypto-puzzles and a capture-the-flag challenge, which is exactly what the students are hot for.
In 2015, when we organised the first Challenge, 250 students participated. Eight years later, more than 800 students are participating in the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium, most of whom are not even studying cyber security. The Challenge acts as a revelation: a revelation that cyber is actually exciting. That it is an incredibly diversified domain, where so many profiles can find their place. And a domain where they can have a positive social impact. In short, a great career opportunity.
The Cyber Security Challenge Belgium is a unique opportunity to give tomorrow's cyber experts a boost. On the one hand, participants learn in a short time a lot of possible techniques, how to work together in a team and to think problem-solving under pressure. On the other hand, it is a great opportunity to find their future employer. As a national authority on cyber security, the CCB is therefore only too happy to support such initiatives.
Some figures CSCBE 2023
● 805 students in the qualifying round, including 218 students from 10 universities and 587 students from 35 colleges
● Final: 150 participants in the final
● 20 sponsors
● 18 participating companies actively seeking cyber security experts
The CSCBE is an initiative of NVISO, with the support of 10 or so companies and academic institutions. The Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium encourages such initiatives and is arranging for a Belgian delegation to participate in ECSC 2023 in Hamar, Norway.