The first edition of TALENT4CYBER was a success

• This university hackathon brought together more than 150 students

The Joint Cyber Command successfully concludes the first edition of the university hackathon: TALENT4CYBER.

The University of Granada, the ‘TRUST Lab’ of the Polytechnic University of Cartagena, ‘Telefónica’, and the Joint Cyber Command, conclude the first Cyber University Conference.

More than 150 students attended the event from various national universities. Over the past two days, the students had to tackle 13 challenges, such as: forensic analysis, web security, attack mitigation, and system protection, among other areas.                   

The technical aspect was made possible by ‘Telefónica’ Tech’s team, who were responsible for creating scenarios and developing the exercise. The **Eq7_UCA team**, composed of four students from the University of Cádiz through the University of Granada, successfully completed the final challenges with the highest score, becoming the official winners of the first edition of **TALENT4CYBER**.

This team will participate with the **Joint Cyber Command (MCCE)** in the 2025 annual international **Locked Shields** exercise organized by the **NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE)**.

The hackathon aimed to raise awareness of the services provided by the Armed Forces (FAS) to society in the cyber domain, as well as to train and assess the capabilities of university students in handling military operations in this domain.

The overall evaluation of this edition is highly positive. In fact, many universities have expressed interest in participating with the **MCCE** in the 2025 edition. The event had the right elements and attracted the attention of its target audience—students and universities—positioning it to become the largest national university exercise in the cyberspace field.

The contribution of universities to spreading a **Culture of Defence** is essential to ensure our freedom and well-being. Events like this are key to demonstrating that security and defence are not guaranteed: "we all have the responsibility to contribute to them."