Georgian Youth Competes for Cyber Security
Up to 150 students from universities and schools across Georgia are taking part in the Cyber Olympiad CyberCube 2018 organized by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.GOV.GE) of the Data Exchange Agency (DEA) under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.
CyberCube 2018 is supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), UK aid from the UK Government, Cyber Security Bureau of the Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia, and a range of business partners and sponsors – UGT, Huawei, GreenNet, ISSP, Orient Logic and GRENA.
Speaking at the opening of the Olympiad on 7 May, Giorgi Pataridze, Deputy Minister of Justice, highlighted Georgia’s evident progress in developing Information Technologies and cyber security.
Nikoloz Gagnidze, Chairperson of the Data Exchange Agency, noted the role of Cyber Olympiad in educating new generations of Georgian IT professionals.
“The annual CyberCube shows the notable progress in skills and abilities of its participants. We also see that more young people are interested in choosing cyber security as a professional path,” Gagnidze said.
Divided into fifty teams, CyberCube participants compete to fulfil a variety of tasks related to preventing cyber crisis situations and recovering from cyber security incidents caused by hard drive failures or attacks by adversaries. Most of the tasks are based on real-case scenarios from international experience and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) practice.
“It is encouraging to see talented and motivated young people willing to contribute to the development of their country. A systemic approach to cyber security is one the pillars of a modern state,” said Munkhtuya Altangerel, Deputy Head of the UNDP in Georgia.
CyberCube 2018 is the third Cyber Olympiad organized in Georgia since 2016. The participants of this national competition are youth under 25 who are familiar with networking, scripting and web development.
UNDP and UK aid from the UK Government are supporting CyberCube 2018 under their wider program to support the ongoing Public Administration Reform in Georgia.