Egypt, represented by the Egyptian Computer Emergency Response Team (EG-CERT), is participating in organizing the third Regional Threat Hunters competition, held during July and September, by the Arab Regional Cyber Security Center of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-ARCC), in Oman, in partnership with Silensec.
Threat Hunters is a major regional cybersecurity competition, providing a special environment for learning and practicing a variety of skills and experiences in cybersecurity.
The competition is held online, through Cyber Ranges platform, bringing together participants from different Arab countries. Each participating country goes through their national-level event, with the winners advancing to the Regional Threat Hunters 2020 Final.
Registration for the Egyptian Threat Hunters competition was open in August 9, for two age groups: the first for 17-24 year old participants, and the second for 25+ year old ones. The final competition was held on August 29, lasting for four hours. Three participants from each age group won the competition, and will represent Egypt in the Regional Threat Hunters 2020 Final.
The regional competition final was held in September, where each participating country was represented by six participants. Two age groups competed, and the first three winners in each group were honored.
Moreover, EG-CERT participated in two cyber maneuvers. The first is the 8th regional Cyber Drill, where EG-CERT successfully passed all the stages in record time.
Cyber Drill is an annual competition, organized by ITU-ARCC and hosted by Oman National CERT. This year’s competition was joined by 25 teams from Arab countries and Member States of the Organization of The Islamic Cooperation – Computer Emergency Response Teams (OIC-CERT), as well as teams from Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT).
The second maneuver is CyberEX2020, in which EG-CERT won the second place, passing all its stages in record time.
CyberEX2020 is an annual global competition, organized by the Spanish National Cybersecurity Institute (INCIBE), in cooperation with the Organization of American States (OAS). The maneuver is a major cybersecurity competition for measuring the readiness of national CERTs in the event of a cyberattack, as well as for raising awareness of cybersecurity.
Around 80 teams, including 305 participants from 39 countries, competed in CyberEX2020, online. The competition is carried out through sending a set of messages that simulate a pre-prepared cyber-attack, to the participating national CERTs. The aim is to measure the readiness of CERTs in the event of a cyber-attack on government institutions. The country organizing the maneuver sends the cyber-attack through the implementing team.
CyberEX2020 comprises several stages that are passed one after the other, taking into account the response time and how effective the response is. The competition helps provide an enabling environment for assessing the readiness of CERTs, as well as for learning a variety of skills and special experiences in cybersecurity.
