Thursday, 8^th August 2018: In a framework of the implementation of National Cyber Security Capacity Building Program and responding to the identified skills gap, the Ministry of Information, Technology and Communications (MITEC) and Rwanda Information Society Authority, RISA, in collaboration with Silensec, today, held the CyberStars of Rwanda Workshop.

Cyberstars is a competition targeting ICT students in Universities who undergo a monthly competition, pitching software solutions on domains of Ethical Hacking (attackers), Intrusion Detection and Security Monitoring (defenders), Computer Forensics (Responders) to come up with ICT solutions that will help the Government of Rwanda to protect its cyber space.

Today’s event brought together more than 400 ICT students from various universities in Rwanda aged between 18-24 years old. They were exposed to real activities related to cyber operations, such as ethical hacking (attacking), intrusion detection & security monitoring (defending) and computer forensics (responding) which will develop the need of doing research and practical hands on exercises to better respond to the Cyber Security need of the country.

Highlighting the importance of the cyberstars competition, Chief Executive Officer of RISA, Innocent Bagamba Muhizi, said: “From leaked passwords to identity theft, cyber security issues are always in the news. With this competition, we are creating awareness and building capacity by developing the next generation of cyber security experts who will ensure that as individuals, our businesses/data, our governments are operating in a secure cyber environment.”

The workshop aimed at educating the public and creating the next generation of cyber security professionals. It was also an occasion to set off the competition which will run for two months. The top three winners will compete at regional level.

The main purpose of this competition is to enhance national expertise in practical cybersecurity operations and reduction of the human capacity gap in cybersecurity field and leasing awareness.

“This competition is important to the government and the people of Rwanda as it helps create human capacity that will secure businesses and the country from cyber attacks. Through the competition and with the support of media, we shall be able to inform the public on basic steps to protect their cyber space whenever they use internet to socialize or transact businesses” emphasized Dr. Almerindo Grazian, the CEO of Silensec who has massive expertise in Information Security system.

Currently, the cyberstars competition operates within seven countries from the middle East (Oman, Soudi Arabia, Egypt, Irak, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen) where the campaign has been received well, and the finalists already awarded.

With this initiative, Rwanda is also the first country in East Africa and one of the few in the entire African continent to organize a national cybersecurity competition.