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Strategic Security Sciences

CyberForce Competition™

Leading a yearly cybersecurity competition for college students to acquire hands-on experience in the field of energy cybersecurity.

Did You Know?

The demand for qualified cybersecurity professionals to fill an estimated 3.5 million positions by 2021 requires a large, well-trained workforce. Cybersecurity training and development will remain a high priority in the future.

Opportunity

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), capitalizing on the expertise of laboratory staff who have led cyber competitions, hosts interactive, scenario-based competitions to give student teams a hands-on cybersecurity experience and raise awareness of the nexus between critical infrastructure and cybersecurity.

Solution

Argonne leads the DOE’s CyberForce Competition™, which is a multi-laboratory cyber workforce development competition for higher education participants. Argonne scientists and cybersecurity experts develop the scenarios presented to competitors and overall structure of the event.

Since the initial inception of the competition in 2016, managed by Argonne, participation has increased from 10 teams in 2016 to over 90 teams in December 2018. With increased interest in the competition, new participants and sponsors are added every year. Argonne stewards the event, which now has 10 national laboratories and over 100 participating schools.