The Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative together with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP) concluded Europe’s first Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge, held on April 22 to 23 in Geneva, Switzerland. The European Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge follows three successful years of similar competitions held in Washington, DC. Sixteen teams competed to offer their best national security policy prescriptions for combating escalating cyber conflict. The teams traveled to Geneva from the United Kingdom, France, Poland, Switzerland, Finland, Hungary, Estonia, and the United States. By bringing together current and future cyber policymakers from across the transatlantic community, the Student Challenge provided a unique venue for advancing cybersecurity education in Europe and beyond. Take a look at the photos from Geneva here by using the password “competition”.
(Team Switzerland, winners of the 2015 European Cyber 9/12 Student Challenge with Amb. Christian Dussey from GCSP and Amb. Sorin Ducaru from NATO)
This year’s winner was team Switzerland, composed of Swiss military officers enrolled in HEC Lausanne and ETH Zurich. A team of first-year undergraduates from the University of Aberystwyth in the United Kingdom came second, followed by a team from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland and a team from the Military University of Technology in Poland. The four finalist teams’ different nationalities and academic backgrounds greatly demonstrate the diversity of the student teams that met in Geneva to compete this year.
The competition also gathered an impressive panel of judges, including Ambassador Sorin Ducaru, NATO Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges; Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar, Head of Cyber Policy Coordination at European External Action Service; Helena Lindberg, Director General of Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency; and many other distinguished cyber experts. The opening ceremony featured a video greeting by the Estonian President, the Hon. Toomas Hendrik Ilves. Additionally, student competitors were able to engage in question-and-answer sessions with world-class experts like Laurent Gisel, Legal Adviser for the International Committee of the Red Cross and Ambassador Urs Schmid, Switzerland’s Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, as well as a group of young cybersecurity professionals advising the students as they plan their future careers.
The Student Challenge was made possible by the support of NATO’s Public Diplomacy Division, F-Secure, Codenomicon, Delta Risk, CrowdStrike, the Division for Security Policy of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs and the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Sharing (MELANI) of the Swiss Department of Defense, Michael Hermann, and Matthew Angelo. See more…
TEAMS IN THE 2015 CYBER 9/12 STUDENT CHALLENGE IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
Finalists
1st Place: Team SWITZERLAND, HEC Lausanne and ETH Zurich,Switzerland
• Alain Mermoud
• Bastien Wanner
• Michel Herzog
• Damien Schoenenberger
• Coached by Marc Henauer
2nd Place: Team Cyberystwyth, University of Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
• Nickolas Bruetsch
• Christopher Dennett
• Alain Bouwman
• Samuel Smales
• Coached by Madeline Carr
3rd Place: Team Finland, University of Jyväskylä, Finland
• Tuomas Kokkomäki
• Anni Rinne
• Kristian Ukkola
• Mika Nortunen
• Coached by Panu Moilanen
4th Place: Team EGIDA, Military University of Technology, Poland
• Michal Andrzejczak
• Krzysztof Kijo
• Stanisław Skrzypecki
• Kacper Zujko
• Coached by Rafal Kasprzyk
Other Competing Teams
Team Cyber Paris, Sciences Po Paris, France
• Eliska Puckova
• Maeva Amarger
• Benjamin Hounsell
• Daria Karaulova
• Coached by Ayse Alyzée Ceyhan
Team Task Force Red, Sciences Po Paris, France
• Nathalie Mair
• Ingo Mayr-Knoch
• Zenobia Chan
• Jean Mittelstädt
• Coached by Elie Baranets
Team DROP TABLE, Military University of Technology, Poland
• Łukasz Boryczka
• Marcin Dudek
• Jacek Bylina
• Hubert Chylik
• Coached by Mariusz Chmielewski
Team ITA-Sec, Military University of Technology, Poland
• Mariusz Liwin
• Radoslaw Skarżycki
• Mateusz Halicki
• Łukasz Skibniewski
• Coached by Zbigniew Świerczyński
Team Four Musketeers, Military University of Technology, Poland
• Pawel Augustynowicz
• Łukasz Baraniewicz
• Michal Dudycz
• Michal Strzelczyk
• Coached by Rafał Kasprzyk
Team Sancte et Sapienter, King’s College London, United Kingdom
• Hugh Pickering-Carter
• Kathryn Barnhill
• Yuji Develle
• Jackson Webster
• Coached by Thomas Rid
Team Aberystwyth, University of Aberystwyth, United Kingdom
• Grant Alger
• Maihanna Murphy
• Andrew Gilbert
• Ian Goertz
• Coached by Madeline Carr
Team UT, University of Tartu, Estonia
• Diana Gabrielyan
• Dineta Mahno
• Juraj Jarabek
• Khachatur Hambardzumyan
• Coached by Raimundas Matulevicius
Team Johns Hopkins SAIS, Johns Hopkins University, United States
• Jayant Gandhi
• Andres Guerrero
• Jacqueline Koo
• Patrick Rear
• Coached by Marco Cesa
Team TTU, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
• Kadri Talvoja
• Wael AbuSeada
• Mohit Kinger
• Rando Kulla
• Coached by Tiia Sõmer
Team NKE SecuriTeam, National University of Public Service, Hungary
• Martin Arany-Bíró
• Péter Szegedi
• Krisztina Kinga Román
• Zoltán Simon
• Coached by Attila Kiss
Team Security Strategy Institute, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
• Ari Basen
• Jon Alvis
• Ruaraidh Stewart
• Coached by Danny Steed
JUDGES AND SPEAKERS IN THE 2015 CYBER 9/12 STUDENT CHALLENGE IN GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
The Hon. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President, Republic of Estonia (via video)
• Amb. Sorin Ducaru, Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges, NATO
• Heli Tiirmaa-Klaar, Head of Cyber Policy Coordination, European External Action Service
• Amb. Christian Dussey, Director, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
• Laurent Gisel, Legal Adviser, International Committee of the Red Cross
• Helena Lindberg, Director General, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
• Amb. Urs Schmid, Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament, Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office
• Matthew Angelo, Strategy Consultant, Deloitte Consulting
• Ben Baseley-Walker, Programme Lead of the Emerging Security Threats Programme, United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research
• Aapo Cederberg, Colonel G.S. (Ret.), Senior Programme Advisor, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)
• Laura Crespo, Political Affairs Officer, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
• Luc Dandurand, Head of the ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division, International Telecommunications Union
• Pasi Eronen, Executive-in-Residence, Geneva Centre for Security Policy
• Dr. Stefanie Frey, Coordinator, National Cyber Strategy, Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI)
• Solange Ghernaouti, Director, Swiss Cybersecurity Advisory and Research Group, University of Lausanne
• Kah-Kin Ho, Head of Strategic Security Corporaye Technology Group, Cisco, Inc.
• Klara Tothova Jordan, Associate Director, Cyber Statecraft Initiative, Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, Atlantic Council
• Danil Kerimi, Director, Head of ICT Government Community, World Economic Forum
• Ari Knuuti, Cofounder, Codenomicon
• Martti Lehto, Col. (Ret.), Adjunct Professor, Department of Mathematical Information Technology, University of Jyväskylä
• Dr. Gustav Lindstrom, Head of the Emerging Security Challenges Programme, Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)
• Jarno Niemelä, Senior Researcher, F-Secure Labs
• Richard Oehme, Director, Office of Information Assurance and Cybersecurity, Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency
• Ronja Tschümperlin, Analyst and Legal Adviser, Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI)
