Out of their own initiatives, four TAR UMT students signed up to compete in the Kaspersky Interactive Protection Simulation (KIPS) Student Championship 2022 Online and clinched the first runner-up position. The grand final of the international competition was held on 1 December 2022 and the students’ achievement was unveiled after competing against 77 teams from 17 countries.

Organised annually by the global cybersecurity company, Kaspersky, the championship aims to expose students to what happens during a cyberattack. Students also learn how to design and manage effective responses in the event of a cyberattack, including taking business performance and revenues into consideration. The competition consists of several gamified activities at three different levels, each more challenging than the previous level.  

The group of TARCians known as The Organiser consists of four students, three studying Diploma in Information Technology and one studying Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) in Information Security. The team saw the competition as a great opportunity to not only use the knowledge and skills they have learnt in their programme of study but also experience the thrill of competing with teams from different countries. 

“We were really excited by the opportunity to participate in this competition. What’s more, as Kaspersky is the organiser of the competition, the experience of taking part in this challenge would look good in our portfolios,” one of the students said. 

While describing the challenges as intense, another team member shared: “Although this is just a competition, the cyberattack simulation in the competition was very sophisticated. And the overall experience after going through the three stages of the competition has definitely enhanced our understanding of the importance of cybersecurity. As TAR UMT students, we are very fortunate because our programme of study is very related to the industry and we also have other avenues and platforms to enhance our understanding and knowledge of cybersecurity. An example is that we are part of a local community of students interested in cybersecurity where a lot of knowledge exchange and interactions occur. This community established on Discord is an initiative of one of our seniors who saw the importance of establishing a platform for students like us to interact, discuss and learn about the developments in the cybersecurity industry. In fact, it is through this platform that we found out about KIPS!”

As the first runner-up team, the students each won a gift card worth USD300. The students also highlighted that the bigger win for all of them is the experience and excitement of competing in this challenge. 

“This competition is a great reminder of why cybersecurity is very fascinating for each of us. On top of having to think about different ways to tackle the cybersecurity issue at hand, we also learnt the importance of making the right decisions in the nick of time and to do this, it is important to have good communication and analytical skills. Overall, we enjoyed the adrenaline rush in dealing with cyberattack simulations in the competition,” one of them explained.

Snapshots of some game consoles the students were provided with during the competition.