UoB, Kaspersky Lab name winners of Cybersecurity Cup

Manama : Kaspersky Lab announced yesterday the winners of its Kaspersky Cybersecurity Cup in Bahrain. The winners won an all-expenses-paid trip to visit the company’s VirusLab in Moscow, Russia and will get a first-hand look of how Kaspersky Lab experts monitor and detect the most advanced cyber threats from around the world. 

Batool Sayed Shubbar, who won in the Awareness Cyber Cup category and team Connect Tech (members: Ahmed Samer Abdurahman, Fajer Mohammed Alkaabi and Samya Fareed Hasan),  got the first place in the Technical Cup category. 

Congratulating the winners, Prof. Riyad Hamzah, President of the University of Bahrain said, “We believe this competition is a meaningful step towards creating highly skilled experts, solutions and leadership in the field of cybersecurity within Bahrain and the region.”

The awareness cyber cup and technical cyber cup streams spanned three sectors each: financial services and critical infrastructure that were common, telecom (for the awareness cup) and the Internet of Things (for the technical cup). All submissions were reviewed by an expert jury and then pitched to experts from Kaspersky Lab and the University of Bahrain.

Amir Kanaan, Managing Director, Middle East, Kaspersky Lab, described the event as an “excellent opportunity to incorporate classroom knowledge across all stages of the competition and beyond.”

Commenting on his win, Batool Shubbar, the winner of the Awareness Cybercup category, said, “Getting exposure to real-world situations alongside my studies will definitely help to be better prepared for the tasks and challenges I will face in the workplace.”

“I couldn’t be more honoured to win the competition and represent our university at Kaspersky Lab’s global headquarters and VirusLabs,” said Ahmed Abdulrahman, from Team Connect Tech, winners of the Technical Cybercop. “I’m excited and passionate about the potential of the cybersecurity industry, and appreciate the opportunity to learn more from global players.”