Celebrate five years of cybersecurity innovation with a competition designed to challenge your skills and ignite your creativity! Now in its 5th year, this event focuses on the critical intersection of infrastructure, social engineering, and AI—three pillars reshaping the threat landscape.
Critical infrastructure like power grids, transportation networks, and healthcare systems is increasingly connected, making it more vulnerable to sophisticated attacks. Social engineering exploits human trust to breach defenses, often serving as the gateway for such threats. Meanwhile, AI, while a powerful tool for innovation, can also be weaponized to automate attacks, craft convincing phishing schemes, and outpace traditional defenses. Together, these factors create a complex web of vulnerabilities that demand innovative thinking and technical expertise.
This competition is not about AI tools themselves, but rather how social engineering is influenced by the use of AI tools. The competition seeks to engage students’ critical thinking by focusing on issues of efficiency, validity, quality, and automation when it comes to using these tools in the context of social engineering and AI.
Join us in celebrating five years of empowering the next generation of cyber defenders—your journey into the future of cybersecurity starts here!
This year’s event will have asynchronous and real-time components:
| Component | Dates | Real-time/asynchronous | Tracks (high school, undergraduate, graduate) | In-person/virtual |
| Information session | February 19, 2025 | Real-time (Time TBD) | All | Virtual |
| OSINT | February 21-March 7, 2025 | Asynchronous | All | Virtual |
| Personas & pretext | March 10-24, 2025 | Asynchronous | All | Virtual |
| Bid submission | April 4-18, 2025 | Asynchronous | All | Virtual |
| Phish, vish, and formal client debriefs | April 25-27, 2025 | Real-time (Time TBD) | All | Virtual |
| Closing ceremony | April 30, 2025, 2025 | Real-time (Time TBD) | All | Virtual |
| Informal debriefs (optional) | May 3, 2025 | Real-time (Time TBD) | All | Virtual |
Notes:
1. Students are encouraged to check the FAQ page, especially #13 “How do I prepare?” to access resources that they may find useful.
2. The information session will cover competition structure, schedule, rules, ethics, and waivers. The organizers will also answer any questions that teams may have.
GUIDELINES FOR USING AI TOOLS IN THE COMPETITION
During the live event, participants will be required to identify and utilize AI tools of their choice, such as text generators, or image generators. It’s crucial to begin researching and familiarizing yourself with these tools ahead of time.
All teams must use the following two tools: ChatGPT (free version, no local models) and ThisPersonDoesNotExist.com. DeepSeek is not allowed for this competition.
Privacy is a key consideration. Participants are prohibited from entering, uploading, or using any sensitive, confidential, or personally identifiable information in any way in this competition. Temple University, the CARE Lab, and the Advisory Board are not liable for the participants’ actions. Remember that you are representing your institution, so ensure that you play by the rules.
IMPORTANT NOTES
- The advisor/mentor can be full-time faculty, full-time staff or full-time graduate student. Advisors/mentors who have part-time status (adjuncts, members from industry/government/nonprofit etc.) are not permitted. If you are a graduate student team, your advisor/mentor must be faculty or staff. Each team can only have ONE advisor/mentor.
- Participation will require parental permission (if under age 18).
- All selected participants must sign two waivers. The first waiver ensures that students do not cheat, use external/professional assistance, and use AI responsibly. This waiver must be completed during the application process.
- Zoom calls will be recorded, and those that are excellent will be shared on our website and/or at conference presentations! Each member of selected teams must also complete a second waiver which includes an audio-visual release to compete. This allows organizers to use images, audio, text, and video generated during the competition for event promotion and dissemination via conferences, publications, and podcasts. This waiver must be completed before the competition begins.
- Each member of selected teams will be required to complete a pre-event and post-event survey.
