President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition

Congratulations to the winners of the 2022 President’s Cup and everyone who participated in the finals! Stay tuned for future announcements on the next competition.

Cyber threats across the globe have put into focus our country’s need for cyber talent. CISA leads and hosts the President’s Cup to identify, recognize, and reward the best cyber talent across the federal workforce. 

Participants were challenged to outthink and outwit their competitors in a series of tests that took them through deep space. While the competition had a fictional storyline, the challenges were based on real-world situations to expand cyber skills through fun and creative tests. 

Want to see what it’s like to participate in the President’s Cup? Federal employees can visit the President’s Cup Archive Site to take on challenges from previous competitions as well as completed rounds from 2022. Everyone can visit the President’s Cup GitHub page to find source code, challenge descriptions and walkthrough guides for the challenges. 

Congratulations to the 2022 President’s Cup winners who are listed below. Check out the final scoreboard by visiting the President’s Cup leaderboards for Teams, Individuals Track A and Individuals Track B.

Overview of President's Cup

What is President's Cup?

Established in 2019, by E.O. 13870, “Executive Order on America’s Cybersecurity Workforce”, the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition is a national cyber event aiming to train and recognize cybersecurity professionals in the federal workforce. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) leads and hosts the President’s Cup as part of their mission to expand the size and capabilities of the U.S. cyber workforce. 

Participants are tested in a range of challenges following the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE) Cybersecurity Workforce Framework, including cyber defense, cyber exploitation, forensics, and more. The NICE framework is the foundation for increasing the size and capability of the U.S. cyber workforce. It provides a common definition of cybersecurity, a comprehensive list of cybersecurity tasks, and the knowledge, skills, and abilities required to perform those tasks.

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 services personnel from federal civilian agencies, as well as 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 as an individual and a member of a team. 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 has two tracks and participants can choose to compete in one or both.

• Individuals: enroll as an individual and compete in one or both of two tracks: offensive and defensive.  
• Teams: enroll in groups of two to five from across the government and take on tasks drawn from eight in-demand work roles.

Rounds: President’s Cup has three rounds between August and December. 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 at CISA’s Arlington, Va., facility as conditions allow.  

• Round 1: Open to the entire federal workforce 
• Round 2: Individuals – Top 100 scores from each track | Teams – Top 20% of scores from Round 1
• Finals: The top 10 individuals from each track and top 5 teams from round 2 

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. The timer has limited time to compete for the tracks.

• Individuals: Four hours 
• Teams: Eight hours

Work Roles

 The 2022 President’s Cup challenges are mapped to Tasks and Work Roles from the NICE Framework and categories listed in Executive Order 13870. These Work Roles are listed below.

Individual Competition:

Teams Competition: