In 2019, the Department of Homeland Security's Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) held the first cybersecurity competition for the Federal workforce. Dubbed the President's Cup Cybersecurity Competition, its purpose is "to identify, challenge, and reward the United States Government's best cybersecurity practitioners and teams across offensive and defensive cybersecurity disciplines". With just a few months between the creation of the concept and its execution, time was short to prepare a competition that would meet this tall order.
This talk gives the behind-the-scenes story of the first two President's Cup competitions from two members of the team that built it. In year one, the multi-round event came together in record time and included over 1,000 participants from 25+ top-level departments and agencies within the United States government. In year two, the team improved the competition while adapting to the new realities of the pandemic and held the entire competition remotely.