09 Feb OliCyber 2021: the Italian cybersecurity Olympics
From today, Italian schools will also be able to take hacking lessons. On 8 February, the National Cybersecurity Laboratory of Cini (National Inter-University Consortium for Informatics) opened registration for OliCyber: the first Olympics aimed at all secondary schools and dedicated specifically to the world of computer security. The programme benefits from the experience gained in years of successful CyberChallenge.IT editions, a school for the ethical hackers of the future and an antechamber for entry into the Italian national cyberdefender team, TeamItaly.
But OliCyber is another story altogether. It is aimed exclusively at the students of the federated schools, offering them a course that combines the elements of gamification with solid training in the cybernetic subjects of the future. A scientific pathway, therefore, thanks to which participants will be able to rediscover the most modern technologies now widespread in our society, looking at them with new eyes. Moreover, thanks to the opportunities offered by the Laboratory’s infrastructure, theoretical learning of the fundamentals of computer security will be enriched by activities “in the field”, through virtual arenas and challenges to the last code to conquer the adversary systems, while defending one’s own infrastructure.
Opportunities also for schools and teachers
There are already more than 130 federated schools that can nominate their students to participate in OliCyber, for a total of more than a thousand potential hackers of the future. But for all the others, participation is extremely simple, requiring only that the school register free of charge on the event’s official portal at olicyber.it.
Open until 12 March this year, registrations also entitle teachers to enrol, who will have free access to a wide and in-depth selection of teaching materials specifically prepared by experts, as well as free access to introductory and in-depth courses on IT security subjects.
The second event to mark on the calendar will be the admission tests on 15 March, which will determine the first group of students entitled to enter the OliCyber course. The best from each school will have the opportunity to participate in the training and the first national competition of the Italian Cybersecurity Olympics, scheduled for June 2021.
“After a complex period such as the one that has passed due to the health emergency, the Laboratory had the desire to expand its offer to involve more and more girls and boys in paths of excellence that allow them to make good use of their time, having fun but also staying up to date on the most modern challenges of our time,” comments Paolo Prinetto, director of the National Cybersecurity Laboratory: “In this sense, we believe that OliCyber could be a valid opportunity for high school students, who are always looking for tools to understand the world around them and are certainly skilled users of modern technologies: there is a world behind them, and we want to show it to them”.
Further details and instructions on how to register for OliCyber can be found on the official website: www.olicyber.it