Over 900 students participated in UNbreakable 2023, the most comprehensive cybersecurity education program in Romania, to develop their knowledge in the field

Bit Sentinel, a company specialized in providing cybersecurity services, and Orange Romania supported over 900 students from 62 high schools and 29 universities to develop their cybersecurity knowledge and skills in the 2023 edition of UNbreakable Romania.

Created in 2020, the comprehensive education program recently received international recognition as one of the European Digital Skills Awards 2023 finalists in the Empowering Youth in Digital category.

“UNbreakable continues to be the most important cybersecurity education program in Romania, and its quality has also been confirmed at the international level in the European Digital Skills Awards 2023. This is yet another clear proof that we are on the right track, and what we are doing in Romania can always be compared to the best programs in Europe at the moment. Everyone who is a participant in the program learns new information, improves skills, and can better contribute to a safer society for everyone. Data security is becoming increasingly important every year as the methods used by attackers diversify. That’s why it’s motivating for us to continue our mission to educate young talent towards these subjects, to keep up with unpredictable developments, and face the challenges of an uncertain future,” said Andrei Avădănei, CEO of Bit Sentinel.

During UNbreakable 2023, students completed 3 stages – the bootcamp, individual competition, and team competition – over the course of two months. At the official opening of the bootcamp, representatives from the National Cyber Security Directorate, the National Cyberint Centre, the Romanian Police, the Ministry of Education, as well as from Orange Romania, Cegeka Romania, and Bit Sentinel shared their experience in the field and helped students to better understand the crucial role they can play in society, both now and in the future.

Afterwards, during the bootcamp, the registered high school and university students accessed the educational modules and 150 exercises on the CyberEDU educational platform, participated in 16 webinars, and were guided by 20 mentors, thus improving their cyber security knowledge. Topics covered in the webinars included “Challenges in ensuring cyber resilience”, “The Security of 5G Networks”, “Insights from the Front Lines: Real-World Cybersecurity Operations”, “The Future of vulnerability research”, and “Ethical Hacking & Pen -testing – career opportunities & how we minimize legal risks”. All topics have been chosen in line with current white hacker values. 30% of the students involved in the 2023 edition of UNbreakable also participated in the 2022 edition, which is a sign of their appreciation. Of the total number of participants in the individual competition between May 5 and 7, more than 50% were aged 21 or under and 49% were university students. Furthermore, 19% of those who tested their knowledge in the competition were female.

“The 4 years of UNbreakable have taught us that we can develop, sustain and grow an ambitious and consistent cybersecurity program for young people. We reached 900 participants in this edition, representing over 60 high schools and almost 30 universities in Romania. The way UNbreakable has crystallized into Romania’s “go-to” cybersecurity competition gives us the confidence to move forward with our ambitions”, added Ioan Constantin, Cyber Security Expert at Orange Romania.

The highest number of points (1,889) in the individual competition was reached by participants from Botosani, Braila, Bucharest, Cluj, Constanta, Galati, Iasi, Maramures, and Sibiu. Among universities, the best results in the individual competition (1,889 points each) came from Babes – Bolyai and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca, Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iasi, Polytechnic University of Bucharest, and West University of Timisoara.

The best high schools, which also scored 1,889 points each, were Tudor Vianu National High School of Computer Science, Nicolae Balcescu National College in Braila, and Octav Onicescu Economic College in Botosani. 85 teams participated in the team competition between 19 and 21 May, and the leading counties by points average were Braila, Cluj, and Bucharest. The Politehnica University of Bucharest had the most teams registered – 11, followed by Nicolae Bălcescu Land Forces Academy of Sibiu (7), Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca and Tudor Vianu National High School of Computer Science (6 each). The top-scoring universities in the UNbreakable Romania 2023 team competition are Politehnica University of Bucharest (ranking 1st and 3rd) and Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca (ranking 2nd), with 4,134 points each.

Also, the high schools with the best score are Tudor Vianu National High School of Computer Science (3,417 points), Nicolae Balcescu National College in Braila (3,084 points), and Mihai Viteazul National College (2,317 points).

The UNbreakable Romania competition is organized by Bit Sentinel in collaboration with Orange Romania and is held on the CyberEDU educational technology platform. This year it was also supported by Cegeka Romania and Winsider Seminars & Solutions Inc. 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.

Since then, UNbreakable has grown into an annual program, with around 3,000 young people 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 working in the cybersecurity field since 2015 and offers comprehensive cybersecurity services such as penetration testing services, IT security audits, GDPR and NIS compliance and consulting services, 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 specialists holding over 40 certifications in the field. Bit Sentinel also offers cybersecurity awareness training sessions for employees, as well as special courses and programs for both specialists and security enthusiasts who want to learn the basics.