CDP Cyber Challenge 2024: young talent tackle cybersecurity risks

CDP Cyber Challenge 2024: young talent tackle cybersecurity risks

Fifty students and young professionals took part in the third edition of the hackathon sponsored by the Personal Data Protection Authority, which saw competitors from all over Italy compete in eight Incident Response tests1 
 

Students and young professionals were the protagonists of the third edition of the CDP Cyber Challenge, the competition for emerging talent in cybersecurity, organised by CDP and held on 17 December at Palazzo Ripetta in Rome.

The event saw the participation of 50 “contestants”, divided into 17 teams from all over Italy, who challenged each other in a hackathon involving various technical tests: from forensic analysis2 to detect computer crimes to blue team activities3 to defend digital systems against cyber attacks, from analysing malicious software to monitoring network traffic and compromising emails.

Sponsored by the Italian Personal Data Protection Authority, the competition was introduced by the speeches of Dario Scannapieco, Chief Executive Officer of CDP, and Agostino Scornajenchi, Chief Executive Officer of CDP Venture Capital.

A panel of experts, composed of Selene Giupponi, Secretary General of the Women4Cyber Association, Jelena Zelenovic, CISO of the European Investment Bank (EIB), and Roberto Caramia, Head of the CSIRT Italy Division at the National Cybersecurity Agency (ACN), explored the main trends and current challenges in the field of cybersecurity.

Also speaking at the event was Nicola Vanin, Head of Corporate Security at CDP, who outlined the global cyber threat scenario. He pointed out that over the past year cyber incidents in Italy have increased by 23%, and that internationally cyber incidents are ranked as the fifth highest risk. 

The hackathon saw participants engage in eight challenges that simulated a cyber attack on a European financial institution, testing their incident response skills. The tests made it possible to analyse the attackers' techniques, quantify the impact and manage the incident in a dynamic, high-pressure environment.

The three finalist teams, selected based on their accuracy and speed of execution, presented the results of their activities to the jury, who decided on the winner. The Eoradellosbusto team, consisting of two young professionals, won first place.
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  1 Incident Response is the process of detecting, managing and resolving computer security incidents, aimed at limiting damage and quickly restoring operations.
  2 Forensic analysis is the investigation of computer systems to collect, preserve and analyse data useful for legal or investigative purposes.
  3 Blue Team activities are the defensive actions taken to protect IT infrastructure against cyber attacks.