Serbian Cybersecurity Challenge 2020

Information Brief

  • 2-phase cybersecurity hackathon with multiple Serbian universities and colleges participating
  • Phase I: March 28-29, 2020 – online on the Avatao platform
  • Phase II: end of September 2020 – onsite in Belgrade as part of a large cybersecurity event
  • Topics: web security, crypto hacking, reverse engineering + others
  • Application form: https://forms.gle/T29iwWLxVAzNjjoo8
  • Competition rules: Link

SCC2020 goals

Serbian Cybersecurity Challenge 2020 (SCC 2020) „From zero to hero“ event is planned to initiate a sustainable sequence of similar events, i.e. the event is not limited for execution in 2020 only. The introduction of this event is of utmost importance towards improving the cybersecurity capabilities of the Republic of Serbia, as well as in the process of answering the existing lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals. The extent of that missing workforce is estimated to be ~290,000 in Europe.

The strategic goals of SCC 2020 are:

  1. the promоtion of cybersecurity and
  2. identification, inclusion, education and retention of young talents with the ultimate goal of lowering the cybersecurity workforce shortage in Serbia, in the government, non-government and private sectors.

The operational goals of SCC 2020 are the inclusion of at least 50 talented Bachelor and Master-level students in the training and competition parts of the event. This number (i.e. 50) is estimated to be the minimum number of necessary new experts entering the cybersecurity workforce in the R. of Serbia in the following sectors: private, government, non-government (NGO) and academic/research. The specific operational goals are the following:

  • Stimulate interest for the fields of cybersecurity and computer science in general;
  • Identification of young talents and their training towards capacity building in the field of cybersecurity in Serbia;
  • Awareness raising campaign for students and other participants about the current workforce shortage in the field of cybersecurity and the importance of education and introduction of novel courses and training programs in this novel and very competitive field;
  • Connecting young talent with potential employers;

Participation in the SCC 2020 program is free for students. The organization of trainings and implementation of cyber challenges (i.e. hackathons) will be supported by sponsors from the private and government sectors, as well as through the “Information Security Services Education in Serbia (ISSES)” Erasmus+ project.