Ukraine: cyber competition for women hosted with EU support

On 4 September, the Ukrainian National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre (NCSCC) held a workshop entitled ‘Women’s Path in Cybersecurity: Stories, Challenges, Success’. The workshop was organised in Kyiv with the support of the European Union Advisory Mission in Ukraine (EUAM), as part of the National Initiative to strengthen the role of women in cybersecurity. 

The event featured panel discussions, expert presentations, and public discussions on the role of women in cybersecurity, current challenges, and proposals for expanding their participation. The key part of the workshop was Ukraine’s first Capture the Flag (CTF) competition for women. CTFs are computer security competitions, in which teams or individuals are challenged to find and exploit vulnerabilities in a system to capture a ‘flag’ or piece of information. The competition involved 24 participants representing the public sector, law enforcement agencies, the financial sector, and students from leading higher education institutions. 

EUAM Head of Operations Lynn Sheehan emphasised that the involvement of women in cybersecurity was an important factor in strengthening Ukraine’s democratic institutions and security, and said the NCSCC initiative could serve as an example for other countries.

The workshop was an important step towards expanding opportunities for women in cybersecurity and training a new generation of female cybersecurity experts capable of strengthening Ukraine’s cyber defenses. This aligns with the EUAM’s mission to mainstream gender equality in Ukraine, ensuring full and equal participation of women, and ensuring protection from and prevention of all forms of gender-based violence.

Find out more

Press release

EUAM post on Facebook

[popular_posts columns_xl=”4″ columns_l=”4″ columns_m=”3″]