Students from the Information Security program at the Faculty of Computers, Informatics, and Microelectronics (FCIM) at UTM, together with a university alumnus, secured 1st place in the Cybersecurity Challenge held during the DeepTech GigaHack 2026 national hackathon.
The competition took place over 48 hours in an “Attack & Defense” format, replicating scenarios closely resembling real-world cybersecurity operations. Participants were tasked with identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities while simultaneously protecting their own infrastructure in real time.
The exercises were conducted using a Security Operations Center (SOC) infrastructure, with teams operating from both Red Team and Blue Team perspectives. Thus, participants demonstrated not only the ability to analyze and exploit vulnerabilities but also skills in monitoring, detection, and incident response.
The winning team consisted of students Pavel Chirtoca, Ivan Gazul, Maxim Mîrzac, and Dan Lefter (group SI-241), alongside UTM alumnus Dan Murafa.
This achievement underscores the value of practical training, teamwork, and continuous engagement in developing cybersecurity skills.
We congratulate the team members on their success and wish them continued success in their academic and professional journeys!
