The Africa Cyber Defense Forum (ACDF), a continental platform for public-private cooperation, today announced the launch of the annual Cyberlympics pre-qualifying round, sponsored and facilitated by CompTIA.
The pre-qualifier is open to African nationals of any age who want to compete against the Africa’s elite cyber defense enthusiasts with an aim of securing a place at the two-day-long Africa Cyberlympics, which will run alongside the ACDF annual forum scheduled for 23rd to 24th June 2021.
The competition is designed to address the cybersecurity skills gap and digital divide that persist in Africa, while helping the continent grow its status as an emerging technology hub.
The Internet Society reports that just 11% of the world’s Internet subscribers are Africans, while only 35,2% of Africans use the Internet. In sub-Saharan Africa, the World Economic Forum states there is just one engineer (or fewer) per 10 000 inhabitants, compared to 20-50 engineers per 10 000 inhabitants in industrialised nations, highlighting the general challenges the region faces in developing STEM talent and infrastructure.
“We are delighted to have CompTIA support this year’s Cyberlympics competition that is held annually parallel to our two-day forum,” says Gilbert Nyandeje, founder and CEO of the Africa Cyber Defense Forum. “The competition falls under our long-term plan to address the cybersecurity skills gaps in the African continent, as participants not only get the opportunity to test their knowledge through real hands-on labs similar to what they would encounter in a typical organization. It is also helping them think outside the box and build the right competencies needed to respond to cyber threats.”
During the Cyberlympics final, Competitors will join virtual rooms – provided by CompTIA and online cybersecurity platform TryHackMe in a 24-hour competition putting teams head-to-head as they test their cybersecurity and cyber-defense skills to solve real-life scenarios in an advanced lab environment.
Over the duration of the competitions teams will complete a series of challenges in areas such as offensive cyber-warfare, digital forensics, cyber-defense, cryptography, web application exploitation, system exploitation, malware analysis, reverse engineering, cryptography and programming; however these are not prerequisites for participation.
“The Cyberlympics competition is a great calling card across Africa to those interested in demonstrating they have the skills to meet the threats which are omnipresent in today’s society,” says Graham Hunter, EMENA vice-president for skills certification at CompTIA. “Through our sponsorship, candidates also have the chance of earning one of the most widely taken cybersecurity certifications in the world, CompTIA’s Security+, and benchmarking their skills amongst a global cybersecurity community.”
Yasir Elkabbany, CompTIA’s MENA regional director, adds: “Africa has huge amount of undiscovered talent. At CompTIA, we believe that we can provide a pathway for individuals to begin and build their career in technology.
“Our collaboration with the ACDF to sponsor their 2021 Cyberlympics is one of several initiatives that we are investing in to help make training for the African IT workforce accessible and affordable. We are excited to help African nations develop the next generation of CompTIA certified IT and cybersecurity professionals.”
Team members finishing in podium positions at the Cyberlympics final will be awarded with a CompTIA Security+ exam voucher along with 30 days’ free access to CompTIA’s comprehensive eLearning courseware CertMaster Learn for Security+. This gold standard IT learning tool can help winners work towards industry-recognised certification that can ultimately help land them a job or promotion in a tech role.
Those interested in participating in the pre qualifier should register at https://africacyberdefenseforum.com/africa-cyberlympics/.