Motivated students and young cybersecurity researchers eager to change the world for the better can apply for participation in the Secur’IT Cup, an international competition run by Kaspersky and aimed at tackling security issues posed by modern technologies. Participants can enter the contest both as teams or individually.

As latest technologies open up new digital pathways and broaden our horizons, they can also bring new security challenges. Committed to building a safer digital world, Kaspersky has been at the forefront of countering cyberthreats, and has been continuously sharing its world-class expertise with the community, especially the youth, who will take over this mission in the future.

This year marks the launch of the sixth edition of Kaspersky’s international Secur’IT Cup. The main goal of the contest is to support young talent in their professional development, enabling them to create solutions to mitigate the security issues that are emerging with the appearance of new technologies and the ones that may occur in the future.

For the Secur’IT Cup’23, participants can come up with ideas for the solutions addressing security challenges in these particular fields:

  • Gaming & Geeks – participants may propose their reliable and innovative security solutions, that increase the efficiency of gadgets and contribute to the safety of the gaming world.
  • FinTech – contestants develop their cyber defense projects for the financial industry that can help people around the world be more protected from attacks and cybercrimes.
  • Tracking & Security of people and things – talented young people can offer their projects to secure data protection and its legitimate tracking and collection.
  • Family care – contenders are encouraged to come up with projects in the fields of Elderly Care or Pet Care.  
“We have always highlighted the importance of supporting young talent, and this year our team is focusing on the idea of turning our annual contest into a real ‘growing house’.  To help the participants to develop and apply their projects, we will provide them with our special webinars and sessions with Kaspersky experts,” comments Evgeniya Russkikh, Head of Academic Affairs at Kaspersky. “I hope it will not only encourage young talent to develop great ideas, but also turn these ideas into valuable products, which will be successfully functioning after the competition’s completion.”

This year, the contest will be divided into four main stages:
  • 02.10.23 – 15.10.23 – developing an idea;
  • 16.10.23 – 29.10.23 – providing a business model;
  • 30.10.2023 – 12.11.2023 – introducing prototype design;
  • 13.11.2023 – 26.11.2023 – idea finalisation.
Each stage will be dedicated to a particular project milestone and will be marked by the enhanced support provided to the participants by the Kaspersky team. For instance, the business model development stage will include a webinar, during which participants will learn how to calculate these models, which key performance indicators to address, and other useful details. While during the “idea development” and “prototype development” stages, participants may ask the Kaspersky team for expert advice.

Simultaneously with the global stream, the regional stream of the contest will be running, helping students to get involved in the global competition. The regional stream will be made up of local events, where students gather into teams and develop their projects. As a result, the team that presents the best project as part of a regional event qualifies into the global finals.

The final event will take place online on December 13, 2023. The winning prize is $10,000, the second-place award is $3,000 and an e-learning training by Kaspersky, and the third place trophy is an e-learning training by Kaspersky.

More details on the participation at Kaspersky’s Secur’IT Cup 2023 are provided by the contest’s official website.