Students from National University of Singapore and Singapore Institute of Technology bag top spot, beat global competitors

Kaspersky held the final round of the international Secur’IT Cup student competition and today announces a team of students from the National University of Singapore and Singapore Institute of Technology as overall winners, with the Hygiene Platform for Mobile Security (HPMS) project focused on creating a new mobile security hygiene application tool that bridges the gap between security and developers. 

Over the last five years, the Secur’IT Cup has become a project that has united more than 5,000 talented students from around the world, collaborating on innovative cybersecurity projects, with the goal of providing the foundation for a safer tomorrow. By competing in this international contest with the main prize of US$10,000, these ambitious students receive an opportunity to enrich their cybersecurity background and obtain a comprehensive overview of working in the industry.

This year, 1,500 students from across the globe submitted their ideas in four categories: Router Security, Mobile Secure, Chess anti-cheating and Special nomination: Family Care. After expert review, ten teams from countries including Egypt, Kenya, Kuwait, Russia, and Singapore were shortlisted to present new ideas to a jury of Kaspersky experts and industry representatives in a friendly but fiercely fought competition.

“The Secur’IT Cup competition was created as a project that would support or maybe even boost the growing interest of young professionals in the cybersecurity industry and help them implement their innovative ideas. From year-to-year we see more sophisticated prototypes submitted by students with diverse backgrounds from all over the world. We have a great record of student teams, who regularly participate in the competition, each time developing new and more creative solutions. That motivates us to continue to support the growing community of young talents united by the idea of creating a safe future,” says Evgeniya Russkikh, Academic Affairs Group Manager at Kaspersky Academy.

The project that won first place became Hygiene Platform for Mobile Security (HPMS) presented by the “N0H4TS” team of students from the National University of Singapore and Singapore Institute of Technology. The solution aims to improve mobile application security development by providing developers with several automatic and custom-made tools they can use for security scans, as well as a basic mobile security framework based on the OWASP Mobile Application Security. 

“Winning Secur’IT Cup has been my top priority for the past four years. But this year, I just wanted to bask in the ambience of competition and enjoy the process. I would like to thank Kaspersky for organizing this competition that requires crazy creativity and yet has a super technical solution. It is my absolute joy to finally win it this year with my teammate,” commented Pengfei Yu, member of the “N0H4TS” team.

In light of their efforts, two runners up of the general track were also selected and recognized at the event:

  • “Think like a cheater, live like a cheater” team that brought together students of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, was awarded for Anti-cheat-chess-tool, based on a modified algorithm for calculating the average accuracy of the game from Chessbase. The team has been awarded with the professional certification of choice (CISSP, CISA, CISM, etc.)
  • «Maia AI» team united students of the Faculty of Engineering Ain Shams University and Franklin University Switzerland and took third place with their financial project that addresses financial family needs. Their project includes cyber and financial awareness capabilities as well as an AI feature that serves as an advisor and planner. The team has been awarded with the professional course of choice on one of global MOOC-platforms 

In the special Family Care nomination, the jury recognized team “Win+ners” from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and Kazan National Research Technological University in Innopolis for their “Tail app” application that makes pet owners more aware of their pets’ health, focusing on dogs, by analyzing their behavior. The winner in the special nomination receives a $3,000 grant to spend on their further education. 

“It was an incredible and rewarding journey organizing the Kaspersky Secur’IT Cup 2022 APAC Regional Round, and participating as a jury member at the Grand Final. It was a proud moment to see many great ideas pitched at the Grand Final from the APAC region, and a Singapore team clinching first place in the competition. I was heartened to witness the enthusiasm and creativity our youth has in tackling real-world problems. Competitions like this are important to prepare our future generation of talents to tackle the problems of tomorrow. Congratulations to all participants, and I look forward to their future contributions to creating a safer and more secure world,” Emil Tan, Co-Founder, Infosec in the City, SINCON. Director, IIC Productions (Pte. Ltd.).

In 2022, the competition also featured a new special “People’s choice awards” nomination based on evaluation by people watching the live streaming online. Based on their opinion, the best project is a family-focused centralized notification app for banks – AUTCA – created by the “Owo” team from Singapore University of Technology and Design. The app provides a verified channel of communication between banks and consumers, and aims to reduce the number of phishing scams, and also streamlines financial communication between family members, allowing users to keep track of possible fraud.

The Secur’IT Cup is a project of Kaspersky Academy. To find out more about the competition and the Academy’s other initiatives, please visit https://academy.kaspersky.com/.

Liked this post? Follow SwirlingOverCoffee on Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram.