Recently, Team dcua from the Educational and Research Institute of Physics and Technology (PTI) of Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute won the Open Final of the Swedish National Cybersecurity Championship (Säkerhets-SM) in Stockholm. With this achievement, the team reaffirmed its status as one of the strongest not only in Ukraine but also in Europe.
The Kyiv Polytechnic students outperformed competitors from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, as well as other Ukrainian teams. More about the competition and the team's outstanding victory is shared by their coach, Mykola Ilyin, Candidate of Technical Sciences and Associate Professor at the Educational and Research Institute of Physics and Technology.
Säkerhets-SM is Sweden's prestigious annual cybersecurity championship held in the Jeopardy-style Capture The Flag (CTF) format. It serves as the country's primary qualifying event for selecting the Swedish national team to compete in the European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC). This year's finals took place in Stockholm, the capital and largest city of Sweden, where dcua, a team of students from the Educational and Research Institute of Physics and Technology at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, received an exclusive invitation to participate. The finals were held from March 12 to 15.
However, the team's journey to Sweden began much earlier. In February, the Kyiv Polytechnic students earned the right to represent Ukraine in the on-site finals by defeating other Ukrainian teams in the online qualification round. Their outstanding level of preparation convinced the Swedish organizers—the Swedish National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA, Försvarets radioanstalt) and the Swedish Voluntary Radio Organization (FRO), which promotes information technologies and radio communications—to fully cover the team's travel and accommodation expenses.
The two-day program in Stockholm was exceptionally intensive. The first day was dedicated entirely to solving competition challenges, while the second focused on professional networking and the awards ceremony. The competition featured a total of 35 challenges covering a broad range of disciplines, including web application exploitation, cryptography, low-level code analysis, digital forensics, and OSINT.
A distinctive feature of Säkerhets-SM was the inclusion of seven on-site challenges that required participants to interact directly with the competition environment. Contestants worked with hardware, performed radio signal interception, and analyzed the physical security of facilities. Several tasks were specifically designed to take participants away from their computer screens, requiring them to communicate with organizers to collect information and physically explore the venue in search of hidden game elements. This hybrid format enabled students to demonstrate not only their programming expertise but also their ability to work with physical attack vectors and quickly adapt their focus under pressure.
The two-day program in Stockholm was exceptionally intensive. The first day was devoted entirely to solving competition challenges, while the second focused on professional networking and the awards ceremony. The competition featured a total of 35 challenges covering a broad range of disciplines, including web application exploitation, cryptography, low-level code analysis, digital forensics, and OSINT.
A distinctive feature of Säkerhets-SM was the inclusion of seven on-site challenges that required participants to interact directly with the competition environment. Contestants worked with hardware, carried out radio signal interception, and assessed the physical security of facilities. Several challenges were specifically designed to get participants away from their computer screens by requiring them to communicate with organizers to obtain information and physically explore the venue in search of hidden game elements. This hybrid format enabled students to demonstrate not only their programming expertise but also their ability to work with physical attack vectors and rapidly shift their focus under pressure.
Despite the tournament's high status, the atmosphere throughout the event was remarkably welcoming and open. Both the organizers and the other participants treated the Ukrainian team with exceptional warmth and friendliness. Competition itself took a back seat to mutual support and understanding. The members of dcua particularly noted the hospitality shown by their Swedish colleagues, which transformed the championship into a genuine platform for professional collaboration.
The competition results confirmed the competitiveness of our university's cybersecurity school. The team successfully solved challenges across all major categories while quickly adapting to the unconventional on-site tasks. Beyond the technical score, the most significant achievement was gaining access to Sweden's professional cybersecurity community. Participation in a final of this caliber enabled the team to validate its training methods by comparing them with the approaches of leading European specialists and to establish new connections within the EU CTF community.
Over the course of four days, the university and the team were represented by Anzhelika Bieliantseva, Maksym Hinkul, and Kostiantyn Puzikov. Their success was a natural result of the synergy between the strong academic foundation provided by Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and continuous practical training. The university equips students with the fundamental knowledge that proves essential when tackling complex cybersecurity challenges. Equally important are access to specialized laboratory facilities and licensed software provided through the university's academic programs. The key driver of the team's development, however, remains its systematic work within the dcua-school student club and regular participation in international CTF competitions.
For the dcua team, this trip was a statement of quality. In today's cybersecurity landscape, the only achievements that truly matter are those earned on the international stage, where the rules are transparent and the competition is global. The team firmly believes that the true measure of a student team is its ability to outperform the strongest competitors from other countries on their own turf. Their success at Säkerhets-SM is an objective benchmark demonstrating that the team is moving in the right direction.
🏆 The dcua team from the Educational and Scientific Institute of Physics and Technology (ESIPT) at Kyiv Polytechnic University performed brilliantly in the finals of the cyber competition in Stockholm, establishing itself as the strongest not only in Ukraine but also in the world. Our students outperformed their peers from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, as well as other Ukrainian teams.
👨💻KPI students demonstrated teamwork and the ability to confidently tackle complex tasks in programming, cryptography, working with binary files, reverse engineering, web security, and digital forensics.
This victory confirmed that Igor Sikorsky KPI is a leader in cybersecurity education in Ukraine. It is here that specialists are trained who shape the face of domestic cybersecurity and confidently triumph on the international stage.Congratulations to the junior members of the dcua team who achieved the best results:
🔹Anzhelika Belyantseva
🔹Maksym Hinkul
🔹Kostyantyn Puzikov🤝 We are proud of you and wish you new victories!