SANReN Cyber Security Challenge: Growing from Strength to Strength
The SANReN Cyber Security Challenge (CSC) competition began as a small event hosted alongside the Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) National Conference. Launched in 2017, the CSC competition initially attracted just over 100 participants. In the eight years since the competition’s inception, growing enthusiasm and support from local and Southern African universities have fuelled its expansion. By 2024, participation had surged to over 650 students representing 20 universities, underscoring the competition’s increasing impact and reach.
The CSC competition has always aimed to ignite interest in cybersecurity and cultivate the next generation of specialists in the field. At its core, the event features the Capture the Flag (CTF) challenge, designed to assess students’ expertise across a broad spectrum of cybersecurity domains, including binary exploitation, cryptography, web exploitation, reverse engineering, forensics, and open-source intelligence (OSINT). To ensure exposure to current and emerging cybersecurity trends, unique sponsored challenges run alongside the CTF, featuring topics such as social engineering, hash cracking, penetration testing, and machine learning. The Attack/Defend challenge also introduces an alternative twist, requiring teams to battle and compete in two rounds. The first round requires teams to identify and patch vulnerabilities on their dedicated server within a limited time. Following this round, teams must then attempt to penetrate opposing teams’ servers and change banners to score points, adding a competitive and strategic element to the competition.
The CSC competition’s growth and success would not have been possible without sponsorship and community support. Past sponsors, Microsoft, F-Secure, Cyanre, BlueVision ITM and KnowBe4, laid the foundation for a high-quality competition through financial and challenge support. Such successful partnerships have inspired other organisations to come on board and support the CSC competition. Notably, Orange Cyberdefense has sponsored, for the third year running, a unique cybersecurity challenge focusing on application programming interfaces (API) vulnerabilities and security, offering key knowledge required to master the art of penetration testing. Sponsorship received from MathWorks and Opti-Num Solutions since 2023 has enabled the CSC competition to bridge the gap between cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI). While both financial incentives and challenge support have been integral to the success of the CSC competition, initiatives such as the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) Inspires Educational Sponsorship have greatly contributed to the competition’s mission of growing the next generation of cybersecurity specialists. The ISPA Inspires Educational Sponsorship have, for the past two years, supported young individuals pursuing a career in the ICT sector. At the 2024 CSC competition, Dendrite Cyber and NEC XON Systems joined as first-time sponsors, providing financial support and a 12-month paid internship for one promising CSC finalist, respectively.
The contribution made by the CSC is witnessed beyond the borders of the competition. Past participants have often stepped up as mentors, assisting with the training and coaching of new students. Finalists of the CSC have gone on to achieve significant success in their respective fields, using the competition as a stepping stone for further academic and professional opportunities.
Looking ahead, the organizers of the CSC are planning to expand the competition even further, potentially introducing new challenges and exploring opportunities for international participation. With continued growing interest and support, the CSC competition is poised to become a premier event for student talent, fostering innovation and excellence in the field of cybersecurity.