First place for ETH students at Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge
On 4 and 5 April, the cyber competition Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge 2024 took place. Four teams from ETH Zurich participated in the challenge and one of them, team CyBerg, won first place. Big congratulations!
During the Geneva Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, student teams from various corners of the globe engage in handling a simulated cyber incident promptly. Combining interactive learning with competitive scenario simulation, the challenge prompts students to react to a dynamic, lifelike international cyber crisis scenario. Their task is to assess the threat it presents to national, international, and private sector interests, and offer strategic recommendations to effectively manage the situation.
This year, four teams from ETH Zurich were selected to participate in the challenge: Edelweiss, ETHernalBlue, Nebula and CyBerg. The students dedicated the first half of the semester to training sessions organised and offered by the student organisation ETH Cyber Group. During those training sessions, the students were able to gain first-hand experience from experts from different areas of cyber security and policy, and get guidance and support from the coaches of the Cyber Group.
The cyber challenge was divided into three phases: In phase one, the teams had to develop and select policies and create decision documents. All of the ETH teams successfully passed this first phase. Then in phase two, students were given one night to read the new documentation and develop an appropriate policy response to a simulated cyber crisis. After this competition, the judges selected three teams for the final phase: Team CyBerg, comprised of Nicola Stocco, Isha Gupta, Andrew Lee, and Noah Kim, was selected for the final round. The scenario was a cyber emergency, for which they had fifteen minutes to prepare the briefing. Shortly after, team CyBerg was announced as the winner of the 2024 Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge.
Big congratulations to the winning team for this great achievement, as well as to the other ETH teams who competed in this year's challenge. And a big shout out to the experts, who have shared their experience during the training, and the ETH Cyber Group, who has trained and supported the teams over these last weeks.
For more insights about the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, read the blog post "external page A cyber challenge to remember".
More about the ETH Cyber Group: As an ETH student association, Cyber Group aims to bring the topic of cyber security closer to students from all study programmes, and create a network between students, academia, industry and the public sector. Its primary goal is to support student groups participating in cyber crisis simulation competitions, by providing them with appropriate training, funding and overall support during the competition.
Additionally, Cyber Group organises a variety of “Open Port” events throughout the year, during which renowned cyber security experts come to ETH to share the current state of their field with students. Cyber Group also organises an annual “Meet & Greet”, a networking event for cyber enthusiasts from all study programmes and areas to socialise and enjoy an evening of talks.
About the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge
The Geneva Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge is an annual competition that falls at the intersection of geopolitics and cybersecurity. Students from all over the world gather to compete and create policy recommendations for a fictional cyber disaster. The challenge serves as a combination of a competitive scenario exercise and an interactive learning experience, requiring teams to respond to a realistic, evolving cyberattack and evaluate the risk it poses to national, international, and private sector concerns.