Good afternoon, everyone.
Thank you for being here.
It is a pleasure for me to have these speakers, who are not usual, because they are always behind computers, behind technology.
And today they accompany us to talk about talent, to talk about the cyber security quarry at the Spanish and European level.
I want to introduce you to my left, we have Adrián Belmonte, who comes from the Cybersecurity Agency of the European Union, from ENISA.
Adrián is a technical engineer in IT for the University of Seville, and he is currently working at ENISA as a security expert.
As a security engineer, he is part of the CERT of the Andalusian Board, and after his incorporation in ENISA in 2015, he has been involved in different projects related to the current threats scenarios, crisis management and European cooperation.
Also, response to incidents and development of programs as important as Cyber Europe and the European Cyber Security Challenge, which is what we come to tell you.
Good afternoon, Adrián.
Good afternoon, Tatiana.
Thank you for inviting me.
Good afternoon, everyone.
I am Adrián Belmonte, as Tatiana has explained.
I am the Program Manager, or Program Leader, or whatever you want to call it, who leads the European Cyber Security Challenge at ENISA.
Well, if you want, we can play the first video.
Ernesto, right?
Yes.
Ernesto, please.
It's in English.
Students and young talent from all over Europe gather to network, collaborate and compete.
This is not an ordinary hacking competition.
First, prove your networking and technical skills in your national competition.
Next, challenge teams from other countries at the European finals.
Taking place every year, the ECSC connects young minds to shape the future of cyber security.
It doesn't matter who you are, as long as you have what it takes.
In a fast-changing world, there's never been a greater need for IT security superstars.
Are you ready to join the journey?
To kickstart a career protecting digital services that improve European lives?
Find out about upcoming national competitions and the European Cyber Security Challenge on our website.
Prove your elite and join us at ECSC.
Well, this is the promotional video of the European Cyber Security Challenge.
This is what I'm going to explain here.
I'm going to try to go a little fast because my colleagues also need a little time.
In general, it is to explain more or less what the program is, how it works, how it has evolved since NISA took over the project four years ago, and what will be more or less the future of this project, what we have planned and what will be the development,
more or less.
Well, as you already know, the current situation is that experts in cybersecurity are needed.
There is a great need for cyber experts, so to speak, not only in technical areas, but also in other areas such as legal, compliance, etc.
Cybersecurity is becoming an increasingly transversal area in the company, so it is not only necessary to have technical knowledge, but also for experts to have knowledge in other areas, as well as in other types of skills, so to speak, such as presentation,
having the ability to communicate, being able to present a project, knowing how to manage a project, something that is not exclusively technical.
For this, apart from promoting technical talent, it is also necessary to promote other types of skills, such as public speaking, teamwork, and others.
Well, a little context.
The European Cybersecurity Challenge came through the Cybersecurity Strategy in 2013, and the Commission gave us the mandate to organize a European competition, among all the countries.
At that time, there were already some countries involved that were organizing international competitions, and the idea of NISA was to provide support to those countries for the competition to grow.
The objective of the Challenge is, first of all, to promote international competitions, in the same way that it is being done here in Spain.
Countries organize national competitions locally in each country, and from there they select their members.
From there, what we try is that more and more nations of the European Union get involved in this project, develop training programs, bootcamps, and ultimately get experts in security in each country.
Secondly, well, in general, the awareness and promotion of cybersecurity.
We believe that it is a very interesting project when it comes to promoting cybersecurity, because it is quite eye-catching, it involves young people, it promotes a bit of competition, and, in the end, it focuses on cybersecurity people and can help future talents to have a career in cybersecurity.
Well, identification of talent promotion, development of contact networks...
In the end, the world of cybersecurity is relatively small compared to other areas, and, in the end, everyone knows each other and, probably, people who are in the European Cybersecurity Challenge, as well as in the national competition, get to know each other,
are able to form a company together, or are the future leaders of cybersecurity of tomorrow.
And the... well, I have a screen here, I think I can look at it from here.
Well, and the target audience are students, at first, both from institutes and universities, the industry, which can see the future workers for it, and the general public, which, with the promotion of cybersecurity, can see that this type of activities are carried out.
The contribution of NISA to this project is basically in three parts.
I always say that NISA does not organize the European Cybersecurity Challenge, it is like the COI of the Olympics.
We try to support the organizing country.
Every year it is organized in a different country.
This year it was Romania, last year it was England, next year it is Austria.
And NISA tries to promote...
to have continuity in the project in three levels.
The first is a strategic support that NISA can provide, in principle, because it can have a role of transparency and equality, which maybe other types of organizations cannot have.
We have a support for development within the framework of government.
And finally, technical support in anything that the organization needs.
This is the previous one.
I think that NISA's strategic support for the project has been very important since it was taken.
Now we see a graph of the growth since NISA joined the project.
Basically, it is the contact network of NISA in all countries through the different organizations of which NISA is composed.
Both the Management Board and the Permanent Study Holder Group or other types of groups, like the National Liaison Office.
Through that, we try to unite the countries in an initiative.
And if they have any problems, we try to address them and tell them why you are not in the Challenge, what we can do to help you.
And you can try to come as an observer to try to get into the cycle of how we work.
And this approach has been quite well accepted.
And well, since then, now we have a list for next year, probably three new countries that have already come as observers.
And well, I think they are about to join.
Another part of which NISA tries to support the project is the framework of government through the Steering Committee.
We try, in principle, well, we create a government structure, as I said, the Steering Committee.
And well, in the end, it is really those who decide how the project evolves.
From NISA, we try to have continuity, a baseline for the project, that the decision-making is transparent, that it is fair with all the members.
Well, two meetings are organized a year.
We try to support the Steering Committee as much as possible to the organizing country.
We try to promote the exchange of information between the different member states because there are different levels of maturity.
It is not the same, as you can see, in Spain, which is very advanced in this type of event at the national level, compared to other countries that do not even have a training structure or a challenge.
So, that knowledge that Spain or other countries have, such as Germany or England, which already have a strongly rooted structure in the public organization, can be a bit of a transfer to the countries that are not yet so advanced.
That is one of the things that the Steering Committee tries to promote.
And finally, technical support.
We try to support the organizing country in everything possible.
We try to promote the Challenge.
We have the Scoreboard, which was the first year it was used, it was last year.
This year it has improved a lot with the ideas of the Steering Committee, with the ideas that were collected through the surveys, the feedback received, etc.
We try to promote information exchange tools, such as LandCloud or any other.
We are planning to make a collaboration tool that will be launched shortly.
Creation of guides for experts, for anyone who needs it.
And, well, the promotion of the winning teams.
We usually take them to Brussels to be presented there at the Commission or at some similar event.
And, well, to promote a policy of coordinated public relations to try to send a message.
Our team from Public Affairs is there during the event.
We try to make scheduled meetings to try to share photos, share videos, try to align everything together and to promote a common message throughout the Challenge.
Well, and this is the second video.
This is the surprise I have for Diego.
Ernesto, the second video.
It's very short.
This is how the Challenge looks like.
The team will already know that they were there.
But this is a recording they did there with a drone that they took for
the guys who are here.
They are not here yet, right?
But I hope that in a year or two they will be with us there at the event.
Well, the event in Bucharest was in the Parliament Building, the second largest building in the world.
We had four new participants.
But , well, Belgium fell, so there were really three new ones.
Two observers, Malta and Finland.
And among the participants, leaders, sponsors, organizers, almost 300 people met there, as you could see.
Finally, the winner was Romania, followed by Italy and Austria, which will be organized next year.
Here are some numbers of the impact on social networks.
There really is not much difference.
There is a little more impact than last year.
The only remarkable difference is that there are fewer negative mentions.
But, well, which is pretty good.
And this is the evolution, as I mentioned earlier.
Since 2016, Enisa has been involved in the project.
We have grown exponentially.
And we are thinking that next year, possibly two or three more teams will join.
Apart from, well, finding funding for the teams that are currently there, with the aim that they do not drop out of the call this year, because there are many teams that have been coming for a year or so, depending on the sponsors.
Enisa is trying to promote the creation of a funding base so that they can access it to promote, at least to be able to have a basic bootcamp training program so that the team can go to Vienna next year.
We have already spoken about all these challenges.
It is a very good letter of presentation when it comes to presenting sponsors or finding funding.
If you tell someone that you have one, two, three, four, five more, no one can tell you that it is going to be a bad thing.
And finally, well, we are planning from Enisa the launch of the international competition.
From Enisa, when I say international, I mean outside of Europe.
Intercontinental.
Exactly, intercontinental.
We already have contact with people from the OEA.
Thanks to Spain, precisely.
Contact with Japan, contact with Australia.
And well, we are going to try to do an intercontinental competition, so to speak, for two years.
Organized with Enisa.
We hope it will be in Greece, precisely, at Enisa's headquarters.
Well, not at Enisa's headquarters.
We are looking between Mykonos and Santorini or something like that.
Not a bad place.
And finally, next year, the Challenge will be in Vienna, in the Palace of Congresses.
During November 3 and 7.
And we hope to see some of the members of the team there, and other new ones who can arrive.
Well, and finally, the future.
Enisa's future with the Challenge is to continue supporting new countries that continue to join the Challenge.
To try to logistically support the organized country as much as possible, in whatever is needed.
If a Skorboa is needed, Skorboa.
If a Challenge is needed, Challenge.
If they need speakers, Enisa invites them.
To align with other activities of the Commission, such as the Women for Cyber, which is a program that is about to be launched from Enisa, to try to involve women in cybersecurity in general.
And we believe that the Challenge is an interesting program to promote women's cooperation in cybersecurity.
The European Cyber Security Month, which is also transversal to this one.
And the National Cyber Security Strategies.
And finally, as I said before, the creation of a European team that can participate in competitions with other intercontinentals, so to speak.
Well, that's all.
Thank you very much.
I hope now you have a little more insight from what is happening in Spain and what is to come in the future at the intercontinental level.
And I think it is motivating, both from a European and national point of view, or even beyond.
Thank you all very much.
Thank you very much, Adrián.
If you want a round of questions, we'll do it at the end, so we can listen to the whole table.
Next, my colleague Diego Manrique will speak.
Diego Manrique belongs to my own area of cyber security for young citizens and talent in INCIBE.
He has experience in organising cyber security events and national and international competitions.
He is involved in different initiatives to activate young talent and promoting it in order to get a career in cyber security.
Since 2018, Diego has been our representative at INCIBE in the Executive Committee of these European Cyber Security Challenges.
Whenever you want, Diego.
Thank you very much, Tatiana, for the introduction.
Good afternoon, everyone.
For me, it is a pleasure to be here in CyberCAN for one more year talking about the European Cyber Security Challenges, in an afternoon marked by the competition just after the final phase of the Cyber Olympics.
I'm here to talk to you today.
I'm going to pass the slide.
It's not projecting backwards for some reason.
I'm here to talk mainly about four things.
The role that INCIBE plays in this competition, which is a very decisive role in different roles and areas.
What has been the trajectory of the Spanish team in these five years.
A little above, I will also comment on the experience we have had in Bucharest recently, in October.
And finally, which is surely the part that interests you the most, is how to be part of the team.
These days, I have been working hard since Monday.
Many guys have asked me when the pre-selection phases were going to be.
What are the requirements for joining the team.
So I don't want anyone to leave today with any doubt.
And I think it's going to be a relevant talk for you, because these guys on my right, Alejandro and Adrián, are the present of the team.
But you are the future.
And you are also the immediate future.
Because the fact of being in CyberCAM, the fact of having participated in CyberOlympics or participating tomorrow in the CTF final, makes it possible for INCIBE to be part of that pre-selection of candidates to be part of the national team, which next year will compete in Vienna,
Austria, in a new edition of the European Cyber Security Challenge.
And without further ado, I'm going to start the presentation by briefly explaining what the role of INCIBE is.
INCIBE's role is to make up the national team, that is, the team that participates every year in the European competition.
How does INCIBE do it?
INCIBE does it through its national competitions.
Once that team is selected, it also has the role of coach.
We do a training in INCIBE, which we will tell you later what it consists of, with the aim of preparing the members of the national team for the competition.
On the other hand, we accompany the Spanish national team every year.
As Tatiana said, I have been involved in the project for two years and I was last year with the national team in London, this year in Bucharest, and the truth is that it is a very positive experience, which we will talk about later.
In addition, we are members of the Steering Committee, Spain.
It is the executive committee of the competition, which I will also comment on now.
And in 2017 we had a double challenge, which was to participate in the competition and organize the European Cyber Security Challenge, the edition of 2017, which was in the city of Malaga.
The Steering Committee.
What is the Steering Committee?
Well, it is a job that does not have much visibility from the outside, it is a back-office job.
It is a group of work made up of all the countries that participate in this competition and from INCIBE we have a determining role.
It is a great commitment, especially because we are very aligned with the objectives that the competition pursues.
Over the years, we have been working on a series of initiatives, events, competitions, aid programs, with the aim of identifying and promoting young talent in cybersecurity.
And in that sense, we share many objectives with ENISA and many objectives with this competition.
I think we contribute a lot of value to the Steering Committee for the fact that we have experience in organizing events at the national and international level, and especially competitions.
Many teams, many countries that are thinking about whether to organize the European Cyber Security Challenge or not, but do not have that experience in organizing events, ask us for advice.
For example, this year the Italians who were doubting whether or not to enter as candidates to organize the event, well, we provide them with a lot of information on a budgetary and logistical level.
So that knowledge is very valuable and appreciated by other countries.
And then, well, we have an important background in INCIBE, in working groups in Europe.
We have a technical office of European projects.
We have experience in presenting proposals for financing lines.
In this sense, we are also a reference CERT for companies and citizens, through the transposition of the NIS Directive, which is a European cybersecurity directive.
The transposition of that directive to our legal environment.
So, in that sense, we are a solvent entity with a great commitment to ENISA and to the competition.
More things, as I was saying.
We have the role of selecting the Spanish team.
How do we do it?
Well, through the national competitions that take place in CyberCamp every year, which are the Hackathon, CyberOlympics and the individual CTF.
In addition, we have a program of aid and collaboration with different conferences that we have in Spain.
And the winners of the CTF, the Capture the Flags of each of those conferences, have the right to participate in the final phase of the individual CTF of CyberCamp.
The next phase is training.
The model that we currently have and on which we have been working these years, is a training model based on two weeks, with technical training and soft skills.
In the technical part, we prepare the team members to face the competition, depending on the format of the competition that year.
For example, this year was a Jopardy style CTF, with different categories of challenges.
So, we try to identify the weaknesses and strengths of each of the members, with the aim of achieving a balanced, compensated team, and that it has a good performance in competition.
And then the soft skills part, which I always say are those skills that make you a better professional.
Such as teamwork, stress management, conflict management, business vision, which are skills that are highly demanded by companies in the cybersecurity sector, and that often make a difference in the selection processes.
And I wanted to introduce, so that you know what this training is like, the training video of this year at INCIBE.
Jopardy Training Jopardy Training
INCIBE Well, this has not only been the video of the training, it has also been the video of the presentation in that inauguration ceremony this year in Bucharest.
And now I am going to do a brief review of the trajectory of the Spanish national team in this competition.
It all started in 2015, in Switzerland, when a team of young talents who came from CyberCamp 2014, which has already rained since then...
The first one.
The first one, in fact, in Madrid.
They went to Switzerland to compete in what, at that time, as Adrián has explained, was a kind of Eurocup of young talents from CyberCity.
In that context, in which there began to be a proliferation of national competitions in the different countries, it was decided, from ENISA, with the support of the European Commission, to create a competition that brought together the best talents in Europe.
And we had a, let's say, discreet performance in fourth place.
I think this year, Adrián, correct me if I'm wrong, there were six countries in 2015.
In 2016, we took many lessons learned and we got the victory.
In addition, with a forceful technical part from the first moment.
This year, people like Borja, like José Ignacio, Adrián Marcos, you can also see him there.
And well, the truth is that it was a pretty satisfactory year.
In 2017, we defended the title and managed to revalidate and take home the double.
It was in Malaga.
This year, as I said before, we had a double challenge.
From INCIBE, organize and compete, and at the same time organize CyberCamp.
Therefore, Tatiana will be able to tell you that it was a year of a lot of work.
In 2018, the year before, it was my first year.
We were in the eleventh position, which can be quite misleading, because it is true that we finished the first day third with victory options, but the second day, a cluster of situations made us end up in that position, which I think did not correspond to the level of the team.
In all these years, you have seen a person who is Raúl Riesco, and I have him here in the front row.
Today I am having a kind of exam because I have all my bosses in the front row.
He is the person in INCIBE who has worked the most and believed the most in this project in these years.
And this year, even if he does not appear in this photo, he was there, but he had to leave earlier.
And this has been the summary of our participation in the European Championships.
It would be necessary to tell you what happened this year.
Recently, two months ago, we were competing in Bucharest.
And as Adrián told you, a pharaonic construction was held at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest.
The second largest government building in the world, behind the Pentagon.
The Romans joked that the building could be seen from the moon.
Well, it is true that if you put Google Maps, the building is amazing, it is very large.
Also, on the second day, the government collapsed.
Yes, yes, well, the political situation at that time was a bit delicate and put us there competing, the truth is that yes.
And the competition this year, as I mentioned before, was a Jopardy-style flag capture with different categories of challenge.
Cryptography, Forensics, Hacking Web, Exploiting and others.
New categories were added, such as Mathematics and Probability, Machine Learning.
There are more and more hardware challenges, which is an important part of this competition.
We also kept the format of last year with an Escape Room, very cool.
And in this sense, the competition is a different CTF from the rest, quite dynamic, each year it evolves.
There is flexibility with the organizing country, with new challenges every year.
And the truth is that it is very interesting.
We also had dynamic scoring, for example, this year.
The number of points of each challenge depended on the number of solves of each of the teams, finally.
And then there is also an important part, which is the presentations in front of a jury.
A member of the team has to defend in front of a jury one of the challenges they have solved during the competition.
There were two days of competition, 35 challenges, two sets of different challenges.
A set for the first day and another for the second.
All this is done to prevent the boys from spending the night competing and also enjoying a bit of the leisure program and the nightlife of Bucharest.
And I wanted to show you a video summary that, in the end, will be quite clarifying what happened in Bucharest.
Well, this is the video summary of this year and I have lost the screen now.
Also a greeting from here to my partner Juan, who accompanied me this year at the Steering Committee in Bucharest, who appeared in the video.
And... more things I have to tell you.
I'm going backwards.
This image, many times it is said that an image is worth more than a thousand words, but this image does summarize a bit the experiences, especially the end of the competition and that position we finally had.
We were in the 13th place.
In this image I am on the left side, in the background Manuel Blanco, from Ayuso.
On the right, Roberto, one of the coaches, and Juan Díez, my partner.
And this, I think, was half an hour before the end of the competition.
We were out of place, fighting for victory.
And you also learn from defeats.
And that is the lesson we have to learn.
In these two years, we have learned many lessons.
From the beginning, we have probably also done things wrong.
The model we currently have, we have to evolve it and work to return to Spain the place it deserves and corresponds to.
But what I also wanted to comment on and reflect on is how the competition has evolved in recent years.
There has really been an incredible leap in quality.
There are professional teams behind many of the countries.
Supporting the teams, training them.
Also in competition.
For example, the Poles last year with Dragon Sector, this year with P4.
Go to the Parliament of Bucharest and meet four P4 coaches.
Which is a top team in the world.
I don't know if they have been first this year in CTF Time or have been among the top five.
Teams like Hackeroni, which are the Italians.
I don't know if they have played a lot of CTFs this year, but last year they managed to qualify for the DEFCON.
And they were seventh.
And they have a team behind more than 30 people who have also been supporting the team.
And in that sense, the commitment of all teams and countries is growing.
Every month more time and resources are invested.
And above all, they focus a lot on the selection processes.
And they try to take the best.
Because in the end, this competition, which started in a playful way, with a clear goal of identifying and promoting talent.
And giving opportunities to the youngest.
It has been professionalized to a certain extent.
And more and more countries take the competition seriously.
And that's why many times, and this year I heard a comment like, this looks like Eurovision.
That Spain is no longer what it was.
Behind this competition, there are really some guys who have an important dedication and effort.
They take it very seriously and it annoys us to lose.
Because, as in all sports, we also have that competitiveness.
And what is clear is that we have learned many lessons.
And we are going to try to improve and return Spain to where it belongs.
And I would also like to comment on this later in the Q&A session with the guys.
Briefly, because I like to talk a lot and I'm getting a little longer.
An important part is how to enter the Spanish team.
There are some very important requirements that must be met.
We have to be under 25 years of age to have participated in our national competitions.
Be it in CyberCAM, in the Hackathon or in CyberOlympics.
And on the other hand, the European Cyber Security Challenge has some rules of team composition.
We have to have 5 juniors and 5 seniors.
So, in that sense, when making that preselection and that team, we have to take this rule into account.
The juniors are between 18 and 20 years old and the seniors between 21 and 25.
We have a phase 1, which is the preselection.
Last year we preselected 25 candidates to be part of the final team.
And this year we would like to expand that preselection to give everyone more opportunities.
We do a technical evaluation and interviews with all those candidates.
And once we make a profile and some sheets for each of the candidates, we decide which is the final team.
Which comes to INCIBE and is formed for two weeks.
That is the current format we have.
And what benefits are you going to get?
Well, I think it is a unique experience on a personal and professional level.
You will have the opportunity to share experiences with more than 200 young talents from more than 20 European countries.
You will have the option to compete in Spain, to represent the Spanish team.
And you will be able to form INCIBE with us too.
And you will have many opportunities of interviews, of traveling abroad, of more competitions, which can be the Ibero-American Cyber Security Challenge, the international competition that is to come.
And well, I think that was all.
He has cut the final part.
And I'm going to leave the turn to the real protagonists of today.
Thank you very much.
Thank you, Diego.
I thought there was no one who spoke more than me at INCIBE.
Well, yes, Diego speaks more than me and faster.
To my right we have two members of the team.
Our team of the national team is made up of 14 people, 15.
But well, here to my right we have Adrián del Prado.
He is a veteran player.
He has participated in the 2017 editions, so he is a winner of the European Championship 2017, 2018 and 2019.
And to his right, Alejandro Taibo, who is a new member of the team.
And I would like to ask you a series of questions, as usual.
Diego has prepared them for me, so if he has not told you, it is his fault.
I want you to serve as a source of inspiration to all those who are thinking about entering this world of cybersecurity and so on.
Alejandro, tell us, when did your passion for cybersecurity arise?
Well, when I was little, I have always been interested in mathematics, computer science and so on.
And well, I have also been very addicted to games and so on.
And there were issues of service denial attacks and similar things.
And well, it caught my attention how these things happened, why they happened.
Then, as a result, issues arose of Wi-Fi, typical Wi-Fi attacks.
And then, how the web works.
In the end, you are touching all the sticks because you do not know how things work.
And well, in the end, you end up finding something that really catches your attention.
In the end, the category in which I find myself.
And you participate in competitions like this, little by little.
And you learn little by little because you are not born knowing everything.
So, in each competition, you learn something new and that's how it is.
Very well, thank you.
Adrián, you are also a professional.
When did your hobby become a profession?
How did you get it?
Well, I think, in a good way, thanks to this.
I mean, of course, apart from how important the experience is, how rewarding it is for you personally to participate in the Europeans.
Of course, it gives you a lot of visibility.
So, it gives you visibility, it also gives you a network of contacts.
I mean, you already enter the world of cybersecurity, which in the end is not that big.
So, it gives you an opportunity, on the one hand, to get to know yourself and to show your worth.
So, I think that, based on that, I owe a good part of my current professional situation.
Tell us all where you work.
Well, right now I work at Blueleaf, which is a company from Torrec Intelligence in Barcelona.
And there I am, in the Red Team team.
What would you recommend to a young person who wants to specialize in cybersecurity and doesn't know where to start?
Well, first of all, what I would recommend is, of course, to study.
I would say something more related.
I mean, find a technical area that interests you and dedicate a lot of time to that area.
Because, in the end, that's where you make the difference, where you can start to stand out.
And, in addition, participate in CTFs, if they are not face-to-face at first, online.
Because, by force of trying to overcome a challenge that you don't know how to do, you don't know how to do it, you don't know how to do it, but you dedicate enough time to get it out, I think that's the most important thing.
To have a big head mentality in that sense.
What about you, Alejandro?
It's very similar to this learning method.
I mean, if you are a competitive person, you like to challenge yourself and so on.
This, for example, in my case, is easier to take the learning issue, because you face a challenge, you challenge yourself, you don't know how to do it, in the end you document yourself to see how it's done, you get it out, or you even have to wait for solutions to be published.
And that's when, I think, you really learn, apart from documenting yourself on your own to learn other techniques or whatever, and it helps you to take more easily the learning issue of these categories and find it, in the end, the one you like the most.
In fact, you are an engineering student, right?
Yes, to this day, yes.
I'm in my third year of engineering.
Well, I wanted to emphasize that Naranjero is the nickname of Adrián's player, because if he hadn't been so offensive, it's usual in this world.
What do you think are the key technical skills?
We've talked about the skills of surfskis, we've talked about teamwork, team building, presentations, you speak English.
But the technical part.
What is the key to achieving good performance during two days of competition?
Let's remember, and I have to say this too, that when the competition was one day, we were doing better.
When we go to two days, the national spirit is declining.
In terms of technical skills, it depends a lot on the category you focus on, because in the end, it's impossible to cover all the categories.
I'm talking about the CTF competition categories, I'm not talking about the world of cybersecurity, which is even broader.
To endure two days, I think the part of surfskis and so on is more important.
Especially the management of stress, tension, and also how you relate to the rest of the team.
I think that's fundamental.
What are the communication policies that are established?
What is the mechanism you have to say, look, I won't take this challenge, I'll move on to the next one, and I'll forget about it, I won't waste too much time.
I think that's the most determining factor for long-term competitions.
Well, I think that in the end, to endure two days of competition, because it was eight hours and eight hours, in the end, it's 16 hours that you spend almost entirely in front of a screen.
And I think that really, apart from the technical skills that each one has, because it is already assumed that they are much more advanced when it comes to joining the team and so on, that it is also the way of being of each one.
I think that all the members of the team, even most people, when they are concentrated or doing something, well, it's hard for them to lose focus, they don't like it or whatever.
And well, what Adrián says, it's also the way of getting along with the team, that you are a patient person, that you are a very persistent person, because if you are a person who, at the first change, already passes the challenge or doesn't want to continue with it,
well, in the end, you end up not doing any, because they are challenges that don't come out at first, you need to be on top of them for a long time.
And I think that the people who are better at these competitions are the ones who struggle with the challenges and are patient, and in the end, until they don't take it out, they don't stop, or they even have the ability to say, I overcome this challenge,
I continue with another one, I try to do it, if I take it out, then I go back to the previous one, and in the end, overcome that situation, but more in a personal way, what you were talking about, the soft skills.
Perfect.
Diego was saying that the rest of the teams are improving, that the level is increasing.
What do you think we can help you with?
From INCIBE, because we are the ones who are going to select the future quarry.
What can we help you improve?
What have they improved that we haven't?
The rest of the teams.
I imagine that a very important point is training, how to organize it and make it more constant over time instead of focusing on it in two weeks.
Making challenges continuously, not only to make more challenges and practice more, but also to practice more as a team.
Because in the end, this is a team game, it's not a purely individual game.
In the end, we are all focused on our computer, but you are playing as a team.
And that is very important.
I think that is a part that should be developed a lot more.
In my opinion.
Yes, basically what Adrián said.
But, of course, training is not just two days or two weeks.
In the end, it is something continuous.
It must be when a CTF comes up, play as a team in that CTF, participate in another CTF the following week, participate in that CTF.
If there is no continuity, in two weeks you are not able to train, if you don't come with a base, to train properly in what is competition.
That is, you need, so to speak, a continuous work.
That is, people who maybe don't have so much filming in competitions or whatever, the same if you need more challenges.
Let's say, in a week you play a CTF, the next week there are tests, or you have to read this documentation or practice these techniques.
In the end, it is a continuous work.
I think that would greatly improve the abilities of all the members of the team and we would improve the results a lot.
Perfect, we take note.
Diego, have you written it down?
Yes, it is the main lesson we have learned in these two years.
In fact, we talked about it with the Germans.
They are very meticulous.
They invest a lot of time in the pre-selection phase, but then, throughout the year, they are dedicated to train, train, train, train, train.
In fact, they said they didn't even stay.
Some of them didn't even know each other, they knew each other in the competition.
I don't believe it, but it is true that the part of working, working, working is essential and very important.
And in that sense, that online training and working as a team, creating a team in CTF Time, participating in each and every CTF that comes out on weekends, and that helps you get to know each other, the members of the team, and work in an absolute way.
That is the key.
Perfect.
Now, it is time to answer the question.
Diego already told us, our inner vision.
But you, why?
Why did you stay in the 13th place?
Really, open your heart, say it here.
Don't count the miseries, but...
I would like Adrián to reflect on what we have talked about after the competition, which is the generational relief that we are seeing in Spain.
That, let's say, there are no top teams at the professional level, as there were a few years ago with Intrepid.
How do you see that?
About the generational relief, I do...
It is his last year in the national team.
Yes.
From my point of view, in the scene of the CTFs, of the teams that compete in CTFs in Spain, it is true that you can see that the historical teams play less and less, and in general, there are no new players on the scene.
It is also curious the Spanish case.
For example, we have the Italians with Hackeroni and others.
The philosophy of who forms the CTF teams is very different.
Here they are simply groups of security enthusiasts who, on their own, group up and form a team.
However, in Hackeroni, for example, what they are is like a team of university teams.
That is, from universities, CTF teams arise that are already sufficiently top-notch.
Of course, that also gives you a mechanism of natural renewal.
The people who go through the university form part of the team of each university and then they can create these super teams and have good results.
I think that is a point that, as a country, we should try to encourage.
And then, what happened this year in the competition?
I think that, fundamentally, particularly this year, there was a category in which we would need someone from the right-wing team in that particular branch.
And also the issue of training.
It has nothing to do with how the competition was three or four years ago and how it is now.
The issue of professionalization is very noticeable.
For example, the issue of continuous training is that there are other countries that are doing it and we are not.
And that is noticeable.
Because they are much better prepared than us.
Maybe in the past, where there were fewer countries and they took it less seriously, simply the individual talent of each member of the team was enough to get good results.
It may not be enough now.
I can tell you here the commitment of INCIBE.
In fact, you will see it tomorrow at the end of the individual CTF.
We have changed our way of competing.
We have changed our challenges.
We have added novelties, which you will see tomorrow.
And you will see how we are also trying to catch up with these new trends, these new challenges, these new categories, these new...
Well, you will see it tomorrow.
I don't know if there are any questions in the audience, but before we start the Q&A session, to all of them, not only them, they are a small part.
I would like the rest of the team to join us on stage, those of you who are sitting, holding on to this talk and holding on stoically.
We have made them come today.
Although they compete tomorrow, they should be training, but here they are.
A big round of applause for our Spanish team of the European Security Challenge 2019.
Diego, if you want to go.
Naming?
Well, we start here on the right.
Gonzalo, from Cádiz.
José, from Cádiz too.
Well, I know all the names, but not the origin.
You can tell them the nickname, which is more professional.
Rafa López, from Córdoba.
Adrián Aranjero, from Valladolid.
We have Javi, from Toledo.
Manuel Blanco Pajarón, rainy day from Asturias, from Pañeda.
Álvaro, from Alicante.
Alejandro Cáorz, from Madrid.
Yolanda, from Córdoba.
Manuel and Pablo, both from Salamanca.
Jordi Llopis, from Valencia.
And our Asturian, who currently lives here in Valencia, Daniel Cuesta.
He has memorized it well.
I want to say, these guys, there are some who could not come due to personal and professional negligence.
They are the national team of this year.
There are a lot of people behind.
Last year we had a team of 10, previous years.
And in fact, I want to say that these future professionals, when they leave the national team, we do not let them escape so easily.
They are our mentors, we take them to other types of competitions.
So, Aranjero, do not escape for next year.
Do not go too far.
Any questions?
Take advantage, they are our future cyberspace protectors.
Any questions from the audience?
None?
We ask a question to a member of the national team.
If you give me a microphone, I will directly answer.
Thank you very much.
Let's see, Yolanda, come here.
Come.
She is our first girl in the team.
There have been others in the pre-selection phase, but this is the only girl who has qualified this year.
And I wanted her to greet you directly.
I'm not going to make you a commitment, I'm not going to ask you anything.
She also has to think that tomorrow she has to compete.
Tell us your experience.
I am Yolanda.
My experience was wonderful.
And I encourage many women to do this, because it is a unique experience.
And I think we have the same ability as them.
And nothing, I would repeat it again.
Thank you.
Come here.
I do not say anything to the other shameful member of the team.
Let him say whatever he wants.
Well, personally, I think it is a very valuable opportunity.
Because you meet people who share your same hobbies.
And in the end it is a way to look for emerging talent in Europe.
So I encourage anyone who has this interest in cybersecurity to sign up, to prove their talent and to be part of the Spanish team.
Thank you.
José Tero.
Tell us where you come from, where you go.
And what are you going to do tomorrow?
Well, I'm from Cádiz.
And well, as my colleagues have said before, I encourage everyone to participate in CTF and that there are no professionals in this branch of cybersecurity.
And what have you been doing here with CyberOlympics?
Well, I have been accompanying my colleagues who have been given the first place in CyberOlympics.
He has been a mentor of the team that has won this year.
We continue to promote talent from INCIBE.
Anyone else who wants to talk about the new ones?
If we run out of time, they kick me out.
I told you I talked a lot.
A round of applause for the European Cyber Security Challenge 2019 team.
Congratulations, guys.
Congratulations, Tatiana.
Well, while they are taking the photo, we have to continue with the program for today.
We have one last presentation to finish with this third day of CyberCamp 2019.
And we are going to prepare absolutely everything.
And don't go, we'll be back in just a few minutes.
In the meantime, we stay with them, with the photograph and with the next video.