We are one step closer to knowing the team that will represent Romania at the European Cyber Security Challenge 2021 (ECSC21), after establishing the provisional group within the national stage held online on the weekend of August 28-29.
The first 10 ranked in the eligible categories Juniors (16-21 years old) and Seniors (22-26 years old) at the Romanian Cyber Security Challenge 2021 (RoCSC21), automatically registered in the provisional group, will participate in the next period in training sessions with specialists in the field, in order to prepare for the final stage that will take place in the Czech Republic in Prague, between September 28 and October 2.
certSIGN, active supporter since 2017 of this large European competition, was involved by developing multiple challenges with different levels of difficulty (in areas such as cryptography and IoT – Internet of Things) and provided support to participants who had to solve cybersecurity problems during the two days dedicated to the national stage. Next, we will support Romania’s team, covering part of the costs of preparation, travel and participation in the final stage of ECSC21.
How was the national stage?
The young cyber security enthusiasts enrolled at RoCSC21 had to solve a scenario with tests having three levels of difficulty, tests that involved the development and defense of an infrastructure, points being also awarded in case of attacking other teams.
According to the data provided by CyberEDU.ro, out of 296 participants in the national competition, over 40% solved at least one exercise out of a total of 17 and the participant ranked first completed correctly in just 15 hours all the exercises – the most difficult, at general level, being considered those of cryptography.
The final ranking of RoCSC21 can be found here.
What’s next?
In order to establish the final team which will represent Romania in ECSC21, the young people selected in the provisional group will participate in a 4-day training bootcamp that will take place in Bran between September 16-19. Within it, training sessions will be held with specialists in the field of cyber security.
After the 2019 edition, organized and won for the first time by our country, the Romanian team will compete this year against 21 other European countries for the big trophy: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Switzerland Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
The 2021 National Cyber Security Championship is organized by the National Cyberint Center within the Romanian Intelligence Service, the National Cyber Security Incident Response Center – CERT-RO and the National Association for Information Systems Security – ANSSI, in partnership with certSIGN, Orange Romania, Bit Sentinel, Cisco and Palo Alto Networks.
