Record participation at UNbreakable Romania 2024: Over 1,400 university and high school students registered this year in Romania’s most complex cybersecurity program, marking a 55% increase from last year’s edition

The national cybersecurity program for high school and university students, UNbreakable Romania, developed by Bit Sentinel and Orange Romania, has set a new participation record. Over 1,400 young competitors registered for this year’s edition, a 55% increase compared to 2023. About 80% of participants from the first competitive stage – the individual competition – expressed interest in internship opportunities in the field. Thus, UNbreakable Romania contributes to preparing young people for careers in cybersecurity by testing their knowledge and providing valuable study resources.

The seventh edition of UNbreakable Romania was structured in several stages, and for the first time, participants had the opportunity to compete in person during the final stage. A total of 839 young people actively participated in the individual online competition, including 376 high school students and 318 university students from Romania, as well as 145 people who competed for fun. In terms of age, 46% were under 18, 47% were between 19 and 25, and only 7% were over 25. Participants represented 192 high schools and 31 universities from across all counties. About 80% of them expressed interest in cybersecurity internship opportunities.

In the second stage, the online team competition, 117 teams participated – the highest number of teams ever. Of these, 42% came from high schools, 41% from universities, and 17% participated for fun. Among the high schools with the most representatives were “Mihai Viteazul” National College, with six teams, “Dimitrie Cantemir” National Military College from Breaza, with four teams, “Tudor Vianu” National College of Computer Science, with three teams, and “Emanuil Gojdu” National College from Oradea, with three teams. Among the universities, the Polytechnic University of Bucharest led with 12 teams, followed by the Land Forces Academy “Nicolae Bălcescu” of Sibiu with eight teams, the Military Technical Academy of Bucharest with six teams, the University of Bucharest with five teams, and the West University of Timisoara with four teams.

The program peaked with an on-site final stage held in Brasov, where 14 teams from high schools and universities across the country participated, totaling 40 young people passionate about cybersecurity. Many of them have also participated in other editions of UNbreakable Romania, including some who participated in 4 out of 7 possible editions.

“The significant participation in this year’s UNbreakable Romania exceeded our expectations. We are very happy to see so many young people passionate about a growing field that needs more and more specialists. The positive feedback we received from competitors, especially those who attended the final in Brasov, encourages us to continue offering a physical final round with even more attractive challenges. This lays the foundation for developing a community of young cybersecurity enthusiasts. Their enthusiasm and talent, with many also participating in the National Cybersecurity Olympiad and the Romanian Cybersecurity Challenge this year, reinforce our confidence in the potential of the next generation. Our goal is to continue expanding the competition to reach more schools, providing ample opportunities for learning, development, and cybersecurity mentoring from an early age,” said Andrei Avadanei, CEO of Bit Sentinel.

“For Orange, cybersecurity is both a strategic business area and a way to contribute to the training of future specialists in the field. We are the first operator to get involved in organizing and supporting the most important cybersecurity competitions in Romania and, together with our partners, we are doing our best to make cybersecurity an increasingly attractive profession for young people. We are delighted to see that year after year, more and more high school and university students enter these dedicated competitions and aspire to a career in cybersecurity,” said Cristian Patachia-Sultanoiu, Development & Innovation Manager, Orange Romania.

UNbreakable Romania serves as a stepping stone for young people, supporting them in pursuing and developing their passion for cybersecurity. This year’s edition demonstrated its commitment to diversity and inclusion by granting the top 3 teams and the top 3 individual winners automatic qualification for the finals of the Romanian Cybersecurity Challenge – ROCSC 2024, which took place last week. ROCSC finalists receive national recognition, providing them with an advantage in the job market. Additionally, ROCSC finalists will be eligible to join the national team representing Romania at this year’s European Cybersecurity Challenge. The winners of the UNbreakable Romania 2024 finals also received cash prizes totaling over 8,000 euro. The complete list of winners has been published on the official website.

UNbreakable Romania took place on the CyberEDU platform, where competitors solved exercises and engaged with educational resources designed to provide them with the fundamentals of the main areas of cybersecurity. To prepare efficiently, young people also had access to documents with solutions and explanations from previous editions, along with demo videos. All these resources were also made available to high school students preparing for the Cybersecurity Olympiad as well as for the Romanian Cybersecurity Challenge, making CyberEDU the official platform for the most important cybersecurity competitions in Romania.

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About UNbreakable Romania

UNbreakable Romania is a national program organized for high school and university students in the country who are preparing for a career in cybersecurity or who want to improve their knowledge in the field. The pilot edition took place in 2020 and since then, UNbreakable has grown into an annual program, with over 5,000 young people in total from dozens of universities and hundreds of high schools in Romania participating. Detailed results of the most recent edition can be found here.

About Bit Sentinel

Bit Sentinel has been in the cybersecurity business since 2015 and offers comprehensive cybersecurity services such as penetration testing services, IT security audits, GDPR and NIS consulting services, cyber attack data recovery, incident response and cyber attack investigations. As of 2020, Bit Sentinel also offers services in the area of Security Operation Center (SOC) through its BSS-CERT division, which includes continuous monitoring of companies’ activity, thus identifying and isolating cyber threats before they cause significant damage to IT systems. These services are tailored to the needs of each company and are supported by a team of certified subject matter experts. Bit Sentinel also offers training sessions in the fight against cyber attacks, developing special courses and programs for security enthusiasts who want to learn the basics.