CyberTaipan 2023 Coach and Mentor Registrations are Open

Dear educators,

Are you interested in cyber defence puzzles and codebreaking? Want to learn more about cyber security? Then sign-up to our CyberTaipan 2023 Competition!

CyberTaipan 2023 Registrations are open!

Register as a coach or mentor from the 3^rd April – 26^th May.

Coaches are the backbone of the competition and are responsible for all aspects of a team's activities and preparation. They organise and sign-up student teams.

Mentors are adults with cybersecurity expertise that volunteer their time to support the learning and development of a CyberTaipan team.

Register as a CyberTaipan Coach

Register as a CyberTaipan Mentor

New CyberTaipan Announcements

What is CyberTaipan?

CyberTaipan is an Australian youth cyber defense competition. Across two round, teams of students receive virtual images of various operating systems and have four hours to find and repair cybersecurity weaknesses, strengthen systems, and maintain essential services.

The competition culminates in a national final where teams compete to represent their school or community group. Last year's winner was Team Mensa A!

CyberTaipan is based on a proven framework for educating and inspiring high school students towards further education and careers in cyber security and other STEM subjects.

For more information about the CyberTaipan, the registration process and competition resources, please see our website.

New Linux-only Competition

In the CyberTaipan competition, students are provided with sets of virtual images that represent different operating systems. In previous years, these operating systems have ranged from Linux to Microsoft. For the 2023 competition, CyberTaipan will use Linux-only virtual images.

CyberTaipan aims to expose participants to the real world of cybersecurity. This includes the industry tools used by real professionals working to protect and secure systems around the world. For this reason, Linux based operating systems like Ubuntu and Debian will be used as the primary competition images.

This decision has been made after comprehensive consultation with industry partners and mentors.

Resources to download and install Ubuntu and Debian can be found on the CyberTaipan website.

New way to access CyberTaipan

CyberTaipan 2023 will be delivered using a localised software called VMware Workstation. The application is a virtualization software that allows you to run multiple operating systems on a single physical machine.

If you’re a returning coach to CyberTaipan, you might be used to accessing virtual images through a web browser like Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge. This year, teams will instead use VMware workstation to access the virtual images directly from their computer.

Teams can still participate virtually and the experience for all competitors will be the same.

More information about how to install and use VMware will be released in the coming few weeks.

Upcoming Professional Learning Sessions

Stay tuned for more information about CyberTaipan 2023 and be sure to sign-up!

Best regards,

The CSIRO Digital Careers team