Following the final event, held online on December 1, Team SPAM from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute) in Russia was named the winner. Team The Organizer from Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management & Technology (TAR UMT) in Malaysia placed second while Team Try H4rd from Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNRPU), also in Russia, ranked third.

The international competition for students is based on KIPS, the well-known Kaspersky cybersecurity game. Designed to give a realistic idea of what happens during a cyberattack, it presents students with a unique combination of gaming and training experience. Young professionals can learn how to effectively respond to incidents taking into account business performance and revenue in environments such as banking or public administration. This year, 77 teams registered representing 17 countries.

The final online round focused on technical attribution with a specially-designed fictional environment imitating cyberattacks against the United Nations. During this gamified activity, team players collected pieces of a technical evidence puzzle and made decisions using action cards, in order to produce the most accurate technical analysis of the attack.

Overall, 55 teams tested their knowledge and skills in the final rounds. Team SPAM from the National Research Nuclear University MEPhI won first place with the best performance. They climbed to the fifteenth spot during the first stage, then went up two notches in the second stage (thirteenth), and emerged as the winner in the final round.

“It was a new experience to us. Initially we were focused neither on winning, nor on the scoreboard. This gave us the ability to focus on the goal of the game instead. The scenarios were exciting and new to all of us, so the whole team was highly involved at every turn. Our advice to all KIPS players would be: Don’t panic, read the news, act accordingly,” comments Team SPAM.

“KIPS is our favorite instrument to be used for students’ vivid cybersecurity training. Within our competition it is a great opportunity for young people to test their knowledge in mitigating cyberattacks in practice, using real scenarios based on Kaspersky’s international industry-specific expertise. We are glad to see more and more young people engaging in our global activity and hope this will motivate them to develop further skills in cybersecurity and make additional efforts to develop professionally in an informed way,” says Evgeniya Russkikh, Academic Affairs Group Manager at Kaspersky Academy.

KIPS championship for students is a project of the Kaspersky Academy. To find out more about the competition and the Academy’s other initiatives, please visit https://academy.kaspersky.com/.

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