Under the Tallinn Mechanism framework, Italy supported the participation of Ukraine’s young cyber talents in the final of CTF Junior League.
CTF Junior League is a national cybersecurity competition for young people in Ukraine, designed to help them develop practical cybersecurity skills through real-world challenges. The competition follows the Jeopardy-style Capture the Flag (CTF) format, where teams solve technical tasks to find hidden "flags" and earn points.
The competition begins with an online qualification round, followed by an in-person national final for the highest-ranked teams that was organized in Kyiv at the beginning of June.
Carlo Formosa, Ambassador of Italy to Ukraine, and Olesya Danylchenko, Head of TMPO, in their welcome remarks, wished the competitors success and encouraged them to continue developing their cybersecurity expertise.
Young talents from 15 regions of Ukraine took part in the competition. The youngest participant was just 13 years old, while most competitors were aged 15–18. Their knowledge, determination, and enthusiasm showed that Ukraine’s next generation of cyber defenders is already emerging.
Participants tackle challenges across different cybersecurity domains, including:
- Web Security
- Cryptography
- Reverse Engineering
- Digital Forensics
- Network Security
- OSINT
- AI & Cybersecurity
- Countering Disinformation
One of the programme's key objectives is to identify young cybersecurity talents that will form Ukraine's junior team for the European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC) and other international cybersecurity competitions.
Several Ukrainian public institutions and international partners support the initiative. We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the organizers, in particular the Institute of Cyber Warfare Research, who turned this vision into reality and to our partners Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale and Ambasciata d'Italia in Ucraina, for their valuable partnership and support within the Tallinn Mechanism framework.
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