Selecting and Training Young Cyber Talent: A European Cybersecurity Challenge Case Study

Abstract

With the increasing popularization of cybersecurity concepts due to ever increasing cybersecurity incidents, it is no secret that countries worldwide are investing heavily in cybersecurity education to build the necessary talent pool to cope with future cybersecurity challenges. At the same time, different cybersecurity competitions are being organized to identify leading countries in cybersecurity domains. One such competition is European Cyber Security Challenge in which countries across Europe participate annually to showcase their cyber capabilities. In this research, we present a first of a kind study that focused on identifying selection and training strategies of national cybersecurity teams for international cybersecurity competitions. In the study, we identified countries with major talent pools, their selection and training methodologies, and the training platforms they used.