CyberTaipan is an Australian cyber security competition that is modelled on the US Air Force Association’s CyberPatriot program. This program has been running successfully for 11 years and has already expanded into Canada as CyberTitan, the UK as CyberCenturion and Saudi Arabia as CyberArabia. The competition puts teams of high school aged students in the position of newly hired IT professionals, tasked with managing the network of a small company.
Through several rounds of competition, teams are provided a set of virtual images that represent operating systems. Over a six-hour period, each team is tasked with finding cyber security vulnerabilities within the images, receiving points for hardening the system while maintaining critical services. Teams compete for a chance to represent their school or community group in the National Finals.
CyberTaipan is open to anyone between 12-18 years of age with an interest in cyber, defence, puzzles and code breaking.
Why is CyberTaipan important?
CyberTaipan is based on a proven framework for educating and inspiring high school aged students towards further education and careers in cyber security and other STEM subjects. CyberTaipan forms the Australian arm of a growing global Youth Cyber Defence Challenge Network that started in the United States as CyberPatriot and has expanded to the United Kingdom, Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Impact reports from the CyberPatriot program (US) confirm that participants are far more likely to:
- Pursue STEM education after high school
- Pursue 4-year higher education than their peers
- Feed into the cyber security and technical workforce
Prize Sponsors
We are currently working with partners on potential prizes – if you are interested in supporting CyberTaipan, please get in touch via challenges@austcyber.com
