President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition
Cyber threats across the globe have put into focus our country’s need for cyber talent. CISA leads and hosts the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition to identify, recognize, and reward the best cyber talent across the federal workforce. Participants are challenged to outthink and outwit their competitors in a series of tests that are based on real-world situations to expand cyber skills.
Want to see what it’s like to participate in the President’s Cup? Federal employees can visit the President’s Cup Practice Area to take on challenges from previous competitions and receive a certificate of completion. Anyone can visit the President’s Cup GitHub page to find descriptions, solution guides, virtual machine builds and other artifacts from challenges featured in previous President’s Cup competitions.
President’s Cup 6 Coming Soon!
Registration for the sixth annual President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition will open soon so please continue to check back for updates. Get ahead of the game and practice now for the next competition by visiting the President's Cup Practice Area.
Learn more about President’s Cup
- How can I participate in President's Cup?
Participation in the President’s Cup is limited to employees of the United States federal government. This includes federal employees and uniformed service personnel from federal civilian agencies, Department of Defense active-duty military personnel, civilians, and those serving in a drilling reserve capacity in the Armed Forces Reserves or National Guard. Government contractors are not permitted to participate.
Participants can compete as an individual, on a team of up to five members, or both. Teams can be made from individuals from one or more departments or agencies.
Participants must register using a “.gov/.mil” email address.
- The Competition
Tracks: President’s Cup is split between Individuals and Teams and participants can choose to compete in one or both.
- Individuals: Enroll as an individual and compete in one or both of two tracks: Track A (using defensive cyber skills) and Track B (using offensive cyber skills).
- Teams: Enroll in groups of two to five from across the government and take on challenges drawn from eight in-demand NICE work roles.
Rounds: The President’s Cup has three rounds between January and April. The first two will take place virtually and participants only need internet access and a web browser to compete. The Finals will be held in person at CISA’s Arlington, VA facility.. There will be an Awards Ceremony at the White House after the finals.
- Round 1: Open to the entire federal workforce
- Round 2:Individuals – Top 100 scores from each track | Teams – Top 33% of scores from Round 1
- Finals: The top 10 individuals from each track and top five teams from Round 2
President’s Cup Finals: All President’s Cup finalists must attend the Finals in-person at CISA’s facility in Arlington, VA in order to participate.
Upon receiving notification that they have qualified for the Finals; competitors must notify the President’s Cup team whether they will or will not attend.
If finalists are unable to attend, the next highest qualifying individual or team will be invited. Please note that entire teams will not be disqualified from participating in the Finals as long as at least two members attend.
Session Timer: In the first two rounds, participants have eight days to start their timers and complete as many challenges as possible. The timer starts when the first challenge is launched and cannot be paused. Participants have limited time to compete before the timer stops:
- Individuals: Four hours
- Teams: Six hours
- Work Roles
The President’s Cup challenges are mapped to Tasks and Work Roles from the NICE Framework, and from categories listed in Executive Order 13870.
The fifth annual President’s Cup challenges used the following work roles:
- Individuals Track A
- Primary
- Cyber Defense Incident Responder
- Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst
- Secondary
- Network Operations Specialist
- Cyber Defense Analyst
- Primary
- Individuals Track B
- Primary
- Exploitation Analyst
- Cyber Operator
- Secondary
- Software Developer
- Vulnerability Assessment Analyst
- Primary
- Teams
- Cyber Defense Incident Responder
- Cyber Defense Forensics Analyst
- Network Operations Specialist
- Cyber Defense Analyst
- Exploitation Analyst
- Vulnerability Assessment Analyst
- Software Developer
- Threat/Warning Analyst
- Individuals Track A
The Fifth Annual President’s Cup
The fifth annual President’s Cup ran from January 2024 to April 2024 and featured an exciting theme centered around some of our most beloved video games from our childhoods. Over 300 teams competed, along with more than 1,400 individual track competitors with everyone showing off their best cyber moves and stretching their skills further than that three-handled controller cord ever reached. The competition also saw an increase of seven new participating departments and agencies with participants from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Transportation, Department of Defense, U.S. Army, U.S. Airforce, U.S. Navy, and the U.S. Marine Corps. The 2024 President’s Cup concluded with an exciting four-day Finals event, which took place at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) facilities in Arlington, VA from April 15 – 18, 2024 and was more intense than any rainbow road. The Finals were comprised of the top 10 competitors from Round 2 of each Individuals competition (Track A and Track B) and the top five teams from Round 2. The Teams Finals were split into two days, with the first day introducing the new ICScape Room. This interactive escape room experience immersed participants in a fictional storyline where teams navigated through an intense scenario, completing various hands-on tasks such as finding hidden PLC equipment and locating and installing a Ladder Logic and HMI display, to secure the scene and save the day. “The Justice League” from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), emerged as the sole team to successfully navigate the escape room challenge. Finally, on the second day of the Teams Finals, challengers were presented with a unique cyber video game that was made specifically for this competition. The champions were recognized at an awards ceremony held on May 20, 2024, at the White House.
- Learn more about the finals and the winners of the 2024 President’s Cup here.
TRACK A WINNER
Nolan Miles
U.S. Army Major
TRACK B WINNER
Michael Torres
U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sergeant
TEAMS WINNER
Artificially Intelligent
U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force
President's Cup Resources
President's Cup FAQs
Here you will find some commonly asked questions and answers to help you with the President’s Cup.
President's Cup Supporting Materials
If you are participating in the competition, review these supporting materials and resources to help prepare for the President’s Cup.
Previous President's Cup Coverage
View information about previous President's Cup Competitions including highlight videos, challenges and winner lists.
President's Cup: Hone Your Cyber Skills
Beyond the competition, previous President’s Cup challenges are available here at no-cost for those interested in testing and honing their cyber skills.