The Online Citizen A Community of Singaporeans 
Following the success of last year’s inaugural competition, Kaspersky, on 11 June, announced the opening of its international cybersecurity competition for students, Secur’IT Cup 2019.
The international competition provides a platform for students to showcase their cybersecurity projects and engage in peer learning plus a chance to network with Kaspersky experts. Students in Singapore, aged 18 to 28, are welcome to suggest their own projects which will help solve cybersecurity issues in the following areas: machine learning in cybersecurity, financial security, and automotive security.
The competition will be held on 11 July 2019 as a one-day conference on cybersecurity, where students may sit in at a lecture by a Kaspersky researcher, and later present their own research on stage, in teams up to 3 people.
The local winner will receive USD$1,500 grant for Proof-of-Concept (PoC), a trip to participate in the finals in Europe, a mentorship session with experts from Kaspersky to improve their project, and free access to Kaspersky Cybersecurity Certification Fundamentals.
Only winners of the local competition will be allowed to compete in the global finals during Kaspersky Partner Summit 2019 held in Europe, with the overall global winner to receive a grant of US$10,000.
“Secur’IT Cup 2019 is closely aligned with Singapore’s Smart Nation Initiative, which has a heavy focus on connectivity, autonomous vehicles, and IoT devices. A common thread running through these disruptive technologies is cybersecurity – a necessary element that will help safeguard our data and minimize operational disruptions, as Singapore continues its relentless march towards becoming a highly-connected smart city,” says Yeo Siang Tiong, General Manager of South East Asia at Kaspersky.
“We are very excited to bring back Secur’IT Cup in Singapore this year with the aim to hone the next generation of cybersecurity talent by boosting their awareness and technical know-how in relation to the ever-changing landscape and evolving demands of cybersecurity, in the country and globally. The inaugural year saw strong interest from Singapore students, and this is testament that our young generation is already recognizing the importance of this field of study. This year, we hope to see more from the bright Singaporean minds!” adds Yeo.
The increasing prevalence of cyber threats in today’s digitally-connected world has prompted the surge in demand for cybersecurity talents. Based on the 2018 Emerging Jobs in Singapore report by professional networking site LinkedIn, cybersecurity specialists showed tremendous growth rate (5.5 times) between 2013 and 2017.