The Western University of Timișoara (UVT), through the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (FMI) and the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEAA), organized in June 2023 the first national competition in the field of cyber security "CyberHack@UVT2023". The event was aimed at pupils and students and was complemented by a series of workshops attended by internationally renowned guests from the field of information security and business intelligence. These events were held within the project "UVT.EDU4Cybersecurity - Education, performance, skills and collaboration in cyber security".
The rector of UVT, university professor Dr. Marilen Gabriel Pirtea: "In the context where cyber challenges are evolving at a fast pace and human behavior plays a fundamental role for cyber security, "CyberHack@UVT 2023" became an event of great relevance because it focused on raising awareness of the educational and business environment in Romania, but also towards the development of cyber security culture. It is worth noting the practical value of the event, given by the exposure of concrete and thematic examples specific to the field, adapted for the decryption of the specificities of this field by the general public, in the context of European cyber security."
Subsidiarily, the objective of the event was to stimulate interested young people to orient themselves towards a career in this field, but also to disseminate useful information, so that all participants are informed about the challenges, dangers, vulnerabilities and risks to which they can be exposed in the cyber area, but also correctly directed to concrete sources of education and obtaining the necessary tools for effective resilience in the virtual environment.
During the events, guests and specialized speakers pointed out the new applications and trends in the field of cyber security. Thus, the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration (FEAA), in collaboration with the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics (FMI), organized a workshop on "Cybersecurity for Business", with special guests:
• Dr. Richard Forno from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA – a university of international prestige in the field of cybersecurity, with which UVT has a collaboration agreement in the field of cyber security, both from the perspective of education and research. It should be emphasized that through this partnership UVT became the first public university in Romania to carry out an initiative of this kind with an American university;
• Grațiela Măgdălinoiu, president of the Romanian branch of ISACA (Information Systems Audit and Control Association);
• Laurentiu Popescu, Security Product Manager, Orange Business.
Then, the series of workshops continued with a workshop focused on the importance of education in cyber security, respectively "Cybersecurity for Education", with special guests:
• lawyer Răzvan Miuțescu, who is part of the academic group for educational development in cyber security within the Romanian-American Chamber of Commerce in Washington DC, USA;
• Radu Titiu, Bitdefender, Romania;
• Dr. Tal Pavel, founder of "The Institute for Cyber Policy Studies", Israel.
At the end of the event, the participants were rewarded with welcome prizes. CyberHack@UVT 2023 represents an organizational first for the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, respectively the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, but it was also an important academic event at the national level, enjoying a real success and accumulating over 150 participants , both online and physically, during the two days.
At the type competition capture the flag hackathon, eight teams made up of two members participated, combining primary school and high school students, respectively students, and the prizes awarded were worth over 5.000 RON.
Among the partners and sponsors of the event were the commercial companies that provided the financial basis for the prizes awarded to the competition participants, to whom UVT gratefully thanks: SC Business Communications SRL, SC CyberThor Studios SRL. A team made up of university students representing the West University of Timișoara participated in the success of the project: university professor Dr. Cosmin Enache, vice-chancellor of the West University of Timișoara, prof. dr. Dana Petcu, dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, prof. Dr. Claudiu Brandaș (FEAA), associate professor Dr. Cosmin Bonchiș (Vice-dean FMI), associate professor Dr. Ciprian Pungilă (coordinator of the master's program "Cybersecurity" within the IMF), assistant. university Dr. Mario Reja (IMF), assistant university Dr. Darius Galiș (IMF), Ph.D. Constantin-Marius Arădan (Doctoral School of Law – UVT).
