The Government of Rwanda concluded today a national Cyber stars Competition in all universities dubbed Cyber Stars of Rwanda.  The contestants have been working on pitching software solutions on domains of Ethical Hacking (attackers), Intrusion Detection and Security Monitoring (defenders), Computer Forensics (Responders) to come up with ICT solutions that will help Rwanda protect its cyber space.

Speaking to the contestants, Chief Executive Officer of RISA, Innocent Bagamba Muhizi, thanked their effort to reach the grand finale.

“Congratulations to you all for making this step and to the winners especially. This is a true testimony that you can do it. We will keep organizing such completions. The skills you have acquired are very important, please use them ethically. Use them well and make us defend well the cyber space of this country.”

Kevin Nyawakira; a student pursuing Networking and Communications at the Adventist University of Central Africa (AUCA), who topped the list of 12 winners, expressed his contentment.

 “I am thrilled to be the overall winner and the best attacker. I did prepare well for the competition, and I am glad that my effort pays off. Having been the best attacker does not mean I am going to attack institutions; I am going to use the skills positively: I think I will help companies in testing their securities to fight different attacks against them.”

The cyber stars of Rwanda competition which started in March 2018, was spearheaded by the Ministry of ICT and Innovation, in partnership with Rwanda Information Society Authority (RISA), Silencec and MTN Rwanda. Ten (10) universities attended.

It was started in a framework of the implementation of National Cyber Security Capacity, building Program and responding to identified skills gap. Initially, more than 400 ICT students from various universities started the competition, and 52 of them made it for the grand Finale today.