• Organized annually by the ISACA New York Metropolitan Chapter, this student competition is focused on cultivating the next generation of cybersecurity leaders.
• Open to students pursuing any major or degree at any U.S.-based college, university, or high school. Students have the option to form joint teams.
• Over the last four years since competition inception in 2020:
• 330+ student participants
• 55 teams
• $75,000 in scholarships awarded to competition winners
• 13 institutions participated: 6 colleges, 6 universities, and 3 high schools
• MD and C-suite level judges contribute to the competition’s integrity. The event features case studies purchased from Harvard Business Publishing. Notable sponsors such as Google, TrendMicro, Fortinet, Protiviti, NJ ISACA, and CardinalOps have joined as sponsors over the years
RULES:
• A student can only be a member of only ONE TEAM. If a student is a part of more than one team, they will be disqualified from the competition.
• Academic advisors will serve as the primary contact for the student competition, assisting in team recruitment within the university and potentially externally, as long as there is at least one member from the advisor’s affiliated college.
• On February 12th, student teams will receive a cybersecurity case study to analyze.
• After the first round of the competition ends on April 19th, ISACA NYM judges will pre-screen all submissions and select the best teams to compete in the final round of the competition.
The top 3 teams will be interviewed on May 5th by the judges to determine the final rankings.
DATES:
• Monday, February 12th – Wednesday April 19th EOD
Finalist teams prepare PowerPoint and record team presentations of the case study analysis. *
• Wednesday, April 19th midnight
Finalist teams email PowerPoint and YouTube video recording of the presentation to the Competition Organizer.
• Thursday, April 20th
Competition Organizer sends out a package to Judges with:
• Links to team’s presentations – both PowerPoint presentations and YouTube video recordings.
• Rubric of what the case study analysis should cover and scoring guidelines.
• Ranking Sheet.
• Case Study, Questions and Answers.
• April 20th – April 28th
Judges review PowerPoint presentations, YouTube recordings, and rank anonymous* team submissions using the Rubric and Scoring Guidelines.
• Sunday, April 28th midnight
Judges email Competition Organizer team rankings.
• Monday, April 29th
Competition Organizer averages rankings to identify top 3 teams and schedules interviews with the top 3 teams for Sunday, May 5th morning to determine the final team placements.
Sunday, May 5th
• 10am-10:45am – Judges discuss and agree on interviewing approach.
• 11:00-11:45am – Team A (TBD) interview
• 12:00-12:45 – Team B (TBD) interview
• 14:00-14:45 – Team C (TBD) interview
• 15:00-15:45 – Team D (TBD) interview, if needed, in case of a tiebreaker. Alternatively, this timeslot can be used for a discussion between Judges on how to rank top 3 teams.
In the week that follows Judges finalize 1st, 2nd, 3rd place ranking of the winning teams and email Competition Organizer their decisions.
After May 5th
• Winners of the competition are announced, and results of the competition are posted on Chapter’s social media sites.
• Diplomas are issued and emailed to students in the top 3 teams, recognizing their achievement.
• Scholarship checks are cut and sent out to members of top 3 teams.
• Feedback is collected on how to improve the competition for next year.
STUDENT CASE STUDY ANALYSIS FORMAT:
• Student team should record and place their presentation on a public YouTube channel.
• YouTube video presentation should be at most 15 minutes long, at a normal speed.
• Written case study analysis should be at most 25 PowerPoint slides and should cover the topics outlined in Rubric.
• All team members must participate in the presentation and be recorded.
• All members of top 3 teams that will be invited to the final interviews must participate in answering Judges’ questions.