Kyiv Polytechnic female team wins Ukraine’s 1st CTF competition for women
The female team from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute took first place in Ukraine’s first Capture the Flag (CTF) competition for women, staged in early September on the initiative of the Ukrainian National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre using the workshop’s title ‘Women’s Path in Cybersecurity: Stories, Challenges, Success’ as its slogan. The purpose of the event was to strengthen the role of women in cybersecurity.
Anna Proskurnia, captain of the Kyiv Polytechnic team and a fourth-year student in the Institute of Physics and Technology, spoke with Volodymyr Shkolnyi, correspondent of the Kyiv Polytechnic Newspaper, about the competition. The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
“After our university received an invitation to participate in the CTF competition for women, a female team started to be organised at the dcua-school information security club. Under the guidance of Mykola Ilyin, head of the Technical Information Security Laboratory and Associate Professor at the Institute of Physics and Technology, the team was quickly formed, composed of Halyna Vlasenko, Polina Honcharenko, Anna Melezhyk, and myself as captain. We did not need special training because the experience we had acquired during club sessions was enough.
“The competition was staged on the Unit Range platform of the Cyber Unit company in one of the hubs at the National Aviation University. Due to technical limitations, the competition involved only six teams of four members. Each team was named after a colour; ours was the Red Team – a fitting symbol for our field. The format was Jeopardy: we had to solve problems in digital forensics, web-challenge, cryptography, steganography, and reverse engineering, capturing ‘flags’ as evidence of correct solutions. We were allotted six hours to fulfil the tasks. We scored some 3,000 points. While judges were evaluating results, we had a chance to rest and meet participants from other universities, organisations, and agencies. The highlight was the announcement of the results: we had not expected first place, but we did surpass all our competitors.
“We were awarded certificates of achievement and medals, and invited to the final of the Ukrainian Championship organised by the Ukrainian Military Esports Federation. This was a pleasant surprise for us.”
Q: A workshop was held during the competition. Could you briefly describe it?
A: Since we were busy with the competition, we could only join the workshop at the close of panel discussions. The event featured presentations by female professionals in the field of cybersecurity, who shared their experience to use and research various techniques and tools. Together with other participants, we also played a moderated game: first, we simulated a psychological and information attack on a fictional company, and then built defences against an attack by one of the teams.
Q: In your opinion, what is the significance of such competitions for society?
A: Our team members formed controversial impressions of the competition, but on one point we are unanimous: women in cybersecurity must be supported. This competition is an important step forward in breaking gender stereotypes and bias in the Ukrainian IT community. Such initiatives create an environment in which women can feel more confident, exchange experiences, and find like-minded colleagues. We hope such events become even more inclusive in the future, focusing on the integration of women into the wider professional community. For us, participation in this competition was not only about supporting women in cybersecurity, but also about representing our university with dignity and reaffirming Kyiv Polytechnic’s leadership in this field.
https://eufordigital.eu/ukraine-cyber-competition-for-women-hosted-with-eu-support/
