President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition

All About President’s Cup 

How can I participate in President's Cup? 

Participation in the President’s Cup is limited to employees of the United States federal government. This includes federal employees and uniformed service personnel from federal civilian agencies, Department of Defense active-duty military personnel, civilians, and those serving in a drilling reserve capacity in the Armed Forces Reserves or National Guard. Government contractors are not permitted to participate.  

Participants can compete as an individual, on a team of up to five members, or both. Teams can be made from individuals from one or more departments or agencies.  

Participants must register using a “.gov/.mil” email address. 

The Competition

Tracks: President’s Cup is split between Individuals and Teams and participants can choose to compete in one or both. 

• Individuals: Enroll as an individual and compete in one or both of two tracks: Track A (using defensive cyber skills) and Track B (using offensive cyber skills).   

• Teams: Enroll in groups of two to five from across the government and take on challenges drawn from eight in-demand NICE work roles.

Rounds: The President’s Cup has three rounds between January and April. The first two will take place virtually and participants only need internet access and a web browser to compete. The Finals will be held in person in the National Capital region, with an Awards Ceremony to follow, as conditions allow.    

• Round 1: Open to the entire federal workforce  

• Round 2: Individuals – Top 100 scores from each track | Teams – Top 33% of scores from Round 1 

• Finals: The top 10 individuals from each track and top five teams from Round 2

President’s Cup Finals: All President’s Cup finalists must attend the Finals in-person in order to participate.    

Upon receiving notification that they have qualified for the Finals, competitors must notify the President’s Cup team whether they will or will not attend.   

If finalists are unable to attend, the next highest qualifying individual or team will be invited. Please note that entire teams will not be disqualified from participating in the Finals as long as at least two members attend.  

Session Timer: In the first two rounds, participants have eight days to start their timers and complete as many challenges as possible. The timer starts when the first challenge is launched and cannot be paused. Participants have limited time to compete before the timer stops:  

• Individuals: Four hours  

• Teams: Six hours 

Work Roles

President’s Cup 6 challenges will be mapped to Tasks and Work Roles from the NICE Framework, and from categories listed in Executive Order 13870. 

The sixth annual President’s Cup challenges uses the following work roles:

• Individuals Track A
  • Primary
    • Digital Forensics
    • Incident Response
  • Secondary
    • Defensive Cybersecurity
    • Network Operations
• Individuals Track B
  • Primary
    • Exploitation Analyst
    • Cyberspace Operator
  • Secondary
    • Secure Software Development
    • Vulnerability Analysis
• Teams
  • Incident Responder
  • Digital Forensics
  • Network Operations
  • Defensive Cybersecurity
  • Exploitation Analyst
  • Vulnerability Analyst
  • Secure Software Development
  • Threat Analysis