Up to 120 students from universities and schools across Georgia are taking part in the Cyber Olympiad CyberCube 2019 organized by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT.GOV.GE) of the Data Exchange Agency (DEA) under the Ministry of Justice of Georgia.

CyberCube 2019 is supported by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UK aid from the UK Government and a range of partners and sponsors – University of Georgia, GRENA and ISSP.  

Aleksandre Tabatadze, Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia; Nikoloz Gagnidze, Chairperson of the Data Exchange Agency; Suzi Stern, Head of the Good Governance Fund Georgia at the British Embassy to Georgia; and Gigi Bregadze, UNDP Democratic Governance Team Leader in Georgia, addressed the participants of the Olympiad at an opening session.

“Successful cyber security relies on qualified specialists with the appropriate competence and skills across both public and private organizations. Today’s event assumes special importance because young people interested in cyber security are able to take part in the Olympiad and test their skills,” said Aleksandre Tabatadze, Deputy Minister of Justice of Georgia.  

CyberCube 2019 is the fourth Cyber Olympiad organised in Georgia since 2016. The participants of this national competition are youth under 25 who are familiar with networking, scripting and web development.

Nikoloz Gagnidze, Chairperson of the Data Exchange Agency, noted the role of Cyber Olympiad in educating new generations of Georgian IT professionals.

“The annual CyberCube shows the notable progress in skills and abilities of its participants. We also see that more young people are interested in choosing cyber security as a professional path,” Nikoloz Gagnidze said.

Divided into forty-two teams, CyberCube participants compete to fulfil a variety of tasks related to preventing cyber crisis situations and recovering from cyber security incidents caused by hard drive failures or attacks by adversaries. Most of the tasks are based on the real case scenarios from international experience and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT) practice.

“Cyber security, as one of the pillars of the modern state, has become the matter of development and future. It is encouraging to see young professionals willing to contribute to the development of their country,” said Gigi Bregadze, UNDP Democratic Governance Team Leader in Georgia.

UNDP and UK aid from the UK Government are supporting CyberCube 2019 under their wider initiative to support the ongoing Public Administration Reform in Georgia.  

Media contact

• Khatia Lutidze, Ministry of Justice of Georgia, +995 598 561327, khlutidze@justice.gov.ge
• Sophie Tchitchinadze, UNDP in Georgia, +995 599 196907, sophie.tchitchinadze@undp.org
• Ira Sulava, UNDP in Georgia, +995 579 105, irine.sulava@undp.org