European Cybersecurity Championship 2024
From October 8th to 11th, the European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC) took place in Turin, Italy. This annual competition brings together teams of 10 participants, aged 14 to 24, from European countries and select non-European invitees. Over two days, the teams competed in intense Capture The Flag (CTF) cybersecurity challenges to determine the European champion. Supported by ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, the ECSC aims to cultivate cybersecurity talent and raise awareness across Europe.
This year, Team Austria secured 5th place in the European Cybersecurity Challenge, where 37 teams demonstrated their IT security skills. The winner, Germany, scored 5823.83 points, while Austria earned 3776.46. In Stage 1, the teams tackled various tasks in the Jeopardy-style competition, inspired by real-world IT security challenges, and Austria even took the lead at times during this phase. In Stage 2, the classic Attack/Defense scenario was played out, where teams had to secure their own systems while attacking others. This stage was more challenging for Austria, leaving them ranked 29th initially. However, after a strong comeback, Team Austria climbed to second place in the live standings.
In an outstanding individual performance, Matthias Pleschinger from Team Austria not only won all three preliminary rounds of the openECSC competition but also the final. Competing against over 4,000 players from more than 140 nations, he was the only participant to solve all the challenges, earning a standing ovation at the award ceremony.
Despite these impressive achievements, the team is already looking ahead to next year’s European Championship, determined to break into the top 3. The experience gained from both national and European competitions will play a key role in their future preparations.