NCA Announces 2025 National Student Cybersecurity Competition

On June 19 in Hanoi, the National Cyber Security Association (NCA) announced the 2025 National Student Cyber Security Competition. The competition is organized by the National Cyber Security Association (NCA) in coordination with the Department of Cyber Security and High-Tech Crime Prevention ( Ministry of Public Security ).

The contest aims to encourage and promote the movement of researching and learning cybersecurity skills among students. The contest also aims to discover and nurture young human resources with cybersecurity capacity, while creating a healthy academic playground, connecting students nationwide.

According to the organizers, the contest is open to full-time students from universities and colleges nationwide, regardless of major or year. In particular, a number of guest teams from international students will also participate. Each team will consist of 4 members from the same school, and each school can register an unlimited number of teams.

Mr. Vu Ngoc Son - Head of Technology Department of National Cyber Security Association said that the Competition includes two main forms of competition: CTF (Capture The Flag) and Attack & Defense. The skills focused in the CTF competition include exploiting vulnerabilities, encryption, reverse engineering, forensics, malware analysis and incident response.

Mr. Vu Ngoc Son - Head of Technology Department of the National Cyber Security Association. (Photo: Minh Son/Vietnam+)

The Preliminary Round will take place online on the nCademy platform in late September 2025. The National Final Round is scheduled to take place in October 2025 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. This is also a side event to celebrate the signing ceremony of the Hanoi Convention. Attack & Defense teams will compete in Hanoi. CTF teams will compete in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The total value of the cash prize is up to 220 million VND. In addition, the winning teams will have the opportunity to practice at cybersecurity companies that are members of the Association.

Vietnam is facing a serious shortage of cybersecurity human resources. According to experts, Vietnam could be short of up to 700,000 cybersecurity personnel in the next 3 years. This situation is especially alarming as Vietnam is among the countries at high risk of cyber attacks.

This shortage of personnel comes from many causes. Although the number of schools training in information technology and cybersecurity is quite large, the output quality is not guaranteed, many students still lack practical skills. The cost of international certifications in cybersecurity is also quite high, making it difficult to access. Meanwhile, cyber attacks are becoming more complex and sophisticated, especially with the support of artificial intelligence (AI).

In that context, competitions such as the National Student Cyber Security Competition 2025 play an extremely important role. This competition not only encourages and promotes the movement of researching and learning cybersecurity skills among students, but also serves as a channel to discover and nurture young, capable human resources.

Through the CTF (Capture The Flag) and Attack & Defense competitions, students will be trained in real-world skills such as vulnerability exploitation, encryption, digital forensics, malware analysis, and incident response. These are essential skills that the market is in great demand for.

Creating a healthy academic playground and connecting students nationwide also contributes to building a strong cybersecurity community, creating a premise for solving the problem of human resource shortage in the future./.

(Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/nca-cong-bo-cuoc-thi-an-ninh-mang-sinh-vien-toan-quoc-nam-2025-post1045208.vnp