Recently I came across news that schoolchildren from Russia brought 8 medals from the fir…

Recently I came across news that schoolchildren from Russia brought 8 medals from first International Cybersecurity Olympiad ( ICO 2025 ). The competition took place in Singapore, and 128 people from 25 countries took part in the finals - from Australia to Sweden. And ours are among the best. Let me tell you a little more about what I was able to find out. 🥳

The guys took 3 gold, 3 silver and 2 bronze. Second place in the team competition in terms of the number of gold medals. And this is not an accident, because behind every medal there is systematic preparation. The Russian team was trained by experts from the Central University and Kaspersky Lab, including real pentesters and engineers 😳

The Olympics were divided into two rounds. First round: crypt, vulnerabilities, web and reverse. Second round: pentest, steganography, forensics. Three hours, then another five. Almost a full-fledged Red Team Assessment, only in the Olympiad format for schoolchildren. The next ICO will be held in Sydney next year. And if everything is the same as this time, then we have a chance not just to participate, but to set the pace 😎

From myself I can add that this is all very cool. It’s great that our guys have the opportunity to participate in international competitions even at such a time ( you all understand what I mean now ). And the guys are great. I hope that they won’t abandon it and will continue to develop to become awesome experts. By the way, here they are:

Gold 🥇

1⃣ Maxim Nikitin is an 11th grade student at the State Autonomous Educational Institution of Moscow “School 548”, a prize-winner of the All-Russian Olympiad for Schoolchildren in Information Security 2025, a participant in leading Russian CTFs

2⃣ Alexey Novikov is an 11th grade student at the State Budgetary Educational Institution of Moscow “School No. 1537 “Information Technologies”, winner of the CTF Cup of Russia in 2024, winner of the All-Russian Secondary School in Information Security 2025

3⃣ Ildar Khuzhiakhmetov - 11th grade student of the ANOO "International School of Kazan", absolute winner of the All-Union Secondary School in Information Security 2024, winner of the All-Russian Secondary School in Information Security 2025, Innopolis Open and NTO in Information Security 2024

Silver 🥈

1⃣ Georgy Balashov is an 11th grade student at the Moscow State Budgetary Educational Institution “School in the South-East named after Marshal V.I. Chuikova", winner of the CTF Cup of Russia 2024, winner of the All-Russian School of Safety in Information Security 2025

2⃣ Egor Zaborov is an 11th grade student at Moscow State Budgetary Educational Institution “School No. 179”, winner of the All-Russian Secondary School in Information Security 2025, multiple winner of major CTFs

3⃣ Georgy Lagutin is an 11th grade student at Moscow State Budgetary Educational Institution “School 152”, winner of the CTF Russian Cup 2024 and M*CTF Junior Finals 2024, winner of the All-Russian Secondary School in Information Security 2025

Bronze 🥉

1⃣ Maxi m Eronin is an 11th grade student at the Moscow State Budgetary Educational Institution “Lyceum “Second School” named after V.F. Ovchinnikova, winner of the VSOSH IB 2025 and the CTF Cup of Russia, trainee developer at T-Bank

2⃣ Mikhail Selin is an 11th grade student at the National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE Lyceum) in Moscow, finalist of InnoCTF, M*CTF and the CTF Cup of Russia, winner of the VSOSH in IS 2025

Congratulations to the champions and support faith in the younger generation🎆

#information_security
#career