President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition
It’s time to punch in the coordinates, charge your data pads, and connect your cybernetics. . .President’s Cup 6 registration is open—register now!
Cyber threats across the globe have put into focus our country’s need for cyber talent. CISA leads and hosts the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition to identify, recognize, and reward the best cyber talent across the federal workforce. Participants are challenged to outthink and outwit their competitors in a series of tests designed to expand cyber skills that are based on real-world situations. For President's Cup 6, participants will compete in a maximum velocity metaverse full of mayhem and taking place in a world light years ahead of our own.
Want to see what it’s like to participate in the President’s Cup? Federal employees can visit the President’s Cup Practice Area to take on challenges from previous competitions and receive a certificate of completion. Anyone can visit the President’s Cup GitHub page to find descriptions, solution guides, virtual machine builds and other artifacts from challenges featured in previous President’s Cup competitions.
Registration is Now Open!
Registration is now open for the 6th annual President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition (Nanotech not required), fire up the blasters, and set the coordinates for a cyber future.
All About President’s Cup
- How can I participate in President's Cup?
To register for the President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition, visit Presidentscup.cisa.gov.
Registration runs Dec 9, 2024 – Jan 14, 2025, for the Teams Competition and Dec 9, 2024 –Jan 28, 2025, for the Individuals Competition.
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
- Primary
- Individuals Track B
- Primary
- Exploitation Analyst
- Cyberspace Operator
- Secondary
- Secure Software Development
- Vulnerability Analysis
- Primary
- Teams
- Incident Responder
- Digital Forensics
- Network Operations
- Defensive Cybersecurity
- Exploitation Analyst
- Vulnerability Analyst
- Secure Software Development
- Threat Analysis
- Individuals Track A
President's Cup Resources
President's Cup FAQs
Here you will find some commonly asked questions and answers to help you with the President’s Cup.
President's Cup Supporting Materials
If you are participating in the competition, review these supporting materials and resources to help prepare for the President’s Cup.
Previous President's Cup Coverage
View information about previous President's Cup Competitions including highlight videos, challenges and winner lists.
President's Cup: Hone Your Cyber Skills
Beyond the competition, previous President’s Cup challenges are available here at no-cost for those interested in testing and honing their cyber skills.
Contact
For general information, contact us at: PresidentsCup@cisa.dhs.gov.