CISA Opens Sign Up for the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition

(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Federal employees and service members can put their cyber chops to the test.

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency opened registration for a cybersecurity competition designed to test and challenge the skills of federal employees.

The third annual President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition offers federal employees and service members a chance to flex cyber know-how in three-round as teams or individuals. 

Individual competitors can opt for a track in incident response and forensics analysis, one focused on exploitation analysis and vulnerability assessment, or both tracks. Government contractors can not participate. 

“Our nation faces serious threats in cyberspace; combating them requires a skilled and innovative workforce,” CISA Director Jen Easterly said in a statement. 

Registration for all tracks begins today with deadlines of Sept. 20 for teams and Oct. 4 for individuals. The first qualifying rounds run from Sept. 13 through 20 for teams, and Sept. 27 through Oct. 4 for individuals. Finals will take place at CISA headquarters and be livestreamed on CISA’s YouTube

The President’s Cup was created in response to a 2019 executive order, “America’s Cybersecurity Workforce,” and hosted more than 1,400 individual participants and nearly 250 teams for last year’s edition. The winning team was made of cyberspace capability engineers from the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade.