Previous President's Cup Coverage

2022 President’s Cup:

The fourth annual President’s Cup ran from August 2022 to December 2022. Nearly 240 teams competed, along with more than 1,100 individual track competitors. The competition also saw an increase of six new participating departments and agencies. Participants included the Small Business Administration, Department of Education, Department of Labor, General Services Administration, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Environmental Protection Agency, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Treasury, Department of Veterans Affairs, and United States Postal Service. The 2022 President’s Cup also saw the first non-DoD participant place in the history of the competition, with an individual from the FBI finishing in third place in the Individuals Track A competition. The Finals were held in person for the first time in two years, at CISA’s Arlington facilities. During the second day of the Teams Finals, the challenges were presented with a unique cyber video game that was made specifically for this competition. This video game will be available in 2023 for all federal employees to play on the President’s Cup archive site. The champions were recognized at an awards ceremony held on May 15, 2023, at the White House.

2021 President’s Cup: 

The third annual President’s Cup ran from August 2021 to December 2021. The Teams Competition consisted of challenges drawn from the following eight in-demand NICE Framework work roles: Cyber Defense Incident Responder; Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst; Cyber Defense Infrastructure Support Specialist; Cyber Defense Analyst; Exploitation Analyst; Vulnerability Analyst; Software Developer; and Threat/Warning Analyst. There were two tracks available within the Individuals Competition. Individuals could participate in one or both tracks based on their interest.  There were nearly 2,000 federal employees competing in the 2021 President’s Cup Competition, with over 900 of those taking part in the Individuals tracks. The number of teams has increased each year of the competition, with 308 teams total in 2021. The Departments of Defense, Homeland Security and Justice brought the largest number of competitors, with total representation from at least 15 federal government agencies. The cumulative score over the two days determined the winning team. The second day of the Teams Competition was broadcast live and the video is available below.   

2020 President's Cup: 

The second annual President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition ran from August 2020 to February 2021. The competition was split into a Teams track and two Individuals tracks, one focused on incident response and forensic analysis, and the other focused on vulnerability exploitation analysis. Over 1,400 participants and nearly 250 teams competed in the 2020 competition. Held virtually, the Finals featured the top 10 competitors from each Individuals track and the top five teams. In the Finals, the teams competed in two rounds held on separate days. During the first day of Finals, teams were matched against a variety of challenges in a Capture the Flag format. On the second day, teams faced a "Save the World" scenario in a virtual environment built just for this year's competition. The cumulative score over the two days determined the winning team. The second day of the Teams Competition was broadcast live and the video is available below.   

2019 President's Cup:

The first annual President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition ran from September to December 13, 2019, and drew more than 1,000 individuals and 200 teams. After two Qualifying rounds, 10 individual finalists and five team finalists came to the Washington, D.C. area for the final round at the CISA Cybersecurity Lab.   

The five teams were given a series of challenges to solve on the first day, followed by a virtual escape room on the second day, with the winner determined by a combined score from the two days.  The winning team consisted of Major Josh Rykowski, U.S. Army Cyber Command; Chief Warrant Officer Phillip Smith, U.S. Army 781st Military Intelligence Brigade; Chief Warrant Officer Benjamin Koontz, U.S. Army, Defense Information Systems Agency; Sergeant First Class Zachary McElroy, U.S. Army Cyber Protection Brigade; and Staff Sergeant Matthew Cundari, U.S. Army Cyber Protection Brigade.  

Individuals were given ten challenges to solve over an eight-hour period, testing different technical and security skills.  Sears Schulz, a cadet at the U.S. Air Force Academy, finished first in the Individuals Competition, solving four challenges.  Cadet Schulz is a senior at the Academy and hopes to attend graduate school to study cybersecurity.