The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative has opened registration for its third annual Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge.

The challenge remains the only student competition devoted to national security policy recommendations for responses during a major cyber incident. The competition is designed to offer students, across a wide range of academic disciplines, a better understanding of the policy challenges associated with cyber conflict.

In 2015, the competition will include two events, one in the United States on March 13-14 at the American University in Washington, DC and one in Geneva, Switzerland on April 22-23 in collaboration with the Geneva Center for Security Policy.

The Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge engages students with a small group of experts representing various sectors including government, finance, telecom, and the press. This competition promotes awareness of cybersecurity policy issues while providing students and experts an opportunity to network and develop new ideas on the future of cybersecurity policy.

Part interactive learning experience and part competitive scenario exercise, the Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge gives students interested in cyber conflict policy an opportunity to interact with expert mentors, judges, and cyber professionals while developing valuable skills in policy analysis and presentation. Throughout the competition, students will respond to a serious cybersecurity event by composing their ideal policy recommendations and justifying the decision-making process used to rank priorities. Student teams will be challenged to react to an evolving scenario involving a major cyberattack and analyze the threat it poses to public and private sector interests. Teams will be judged based on the quality of their policy responses, their decision-making processes, and their oral presentation to a panel of judges.

Please email press@AtlanticCouncil.org for more information on the Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge.