Sharpen Your Cyber Skills This Summer with Competitions & Games

Are you looking for ways to gain additional experience in cybersecurity this summer? Competitions and games are a great way to hone your skillset, demonstrate your capabilities, try hands-on and real-world simulations, and have fun while you are doing it. The NICCS Competitions & Games page provides a variety of opportunities for students and prospective or current cybersecurity professionals to participate in this summer and upcoming school year. Learn more about some of the additional ways to get started in competitions and games below.

Opportunities for Students

• CyberPatriot: The Air and Space Forces Association (AFA) CyberPatriot’s National Youth Cyber Defense Competition challenges teams of high school and middle school students to find and fix cybersecurity vulnerabilities in virtual operating systems. Registration is currently open for schools and youth organizations until October 1.
• National Cyber Cup: While the National Cyber Cup won’t open until September 24-25, you don’t have to wait until then to participate! The Cyber Cup Practice Site is live and includes sample challenges for intermediate and high school divisions. Try beginner- and advanced- level challenges today.
• Kahoot Quizzes: CYBER.ORG provides cybersecurity quizzes for students to use as study guides or to assess themselves on hundreds of cybersecurity topics. Quiz yourself or your peers to make your own friendly cyber competition!

Opportunities for All Users

• Try Cyber: Sponsored by CISA, Try Cyber is a web application that allows users to participate in 15-minute micro-challenges to gain hands-on experience with core workforce tasks related to NICE Workforce Framework for Cybersecurity (NICE Framework) Work Roles.
• NIST Cybersecurity Competitions Repository: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) provides a listing of dozens of additional cybersecurity competitions and includes how they align to the NICE Framework. 

Whether you are a student or professional, cybersecurity competitions offer the opportunity to grow and develop your skills, increase your knowledge, and build your confidence in the cybersecurity industry. Get started this summer by trying one of the opportunities above to support your studies, build your resume, and use while on-the-job.

Want to find more ways to grow in the cybersecurity industry? Visit NICCS and check out interactive tools, resources, and training courses. Questions? Please email us at NICCS@mail.cisa.dhs.gov.