FS-ISAC and Cyberbit Wrap Up Financial Cyber League with 75 Teams
FS-ISAC, the member-driven, not-for-profit organisation that advances cybersecurity and resilience in the global financial system, and Cyberbit, provider of the world’s leading cybersecurity skill development and readiness platform, announced the conclusion of the second annual International Cyber League (ICL) Financial Cup, a massive-scale cybersecurity tournament for the financial industry with 75 participating teams. The 2023 winner is an undisclosed Fortune 500 financial institution. The first runner-up is Team “Cryptomaniacs” from Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Company (SMBC), and the second runner-up is an additional Fortune 500 financial institution. This year’s tournament featured competitors from all over the world with top teams based in the APAC, EMEA, and North America regions, highlighting the collective efforts to safeguard the global financial system.
The entirely virtual tournament brings together cybersecurity professionals from around the world to engage in hyper-realistic live-fire simulation challenges that mirror the cyber attacks they may face in real life. The tournament took place 14 October – 14 November 2023, consisting of two rounds. Teams were scored according to their investigation goals, eradication goals, and response time. The winning team scored 99 out of 100 in the live-fire challenge, outperforming teams from leading financial institutions across the globe.
Cyberbit’s cyber range platform immerses users in a virtual security operations centre (SOC), which mirrors live-fire attacks to help prepare for real-life incidents. The ICL tournament utilises the hyper-realistic cyber range to test various technical skills, including malware analysis, AWS and Azure Security, Windows OS, and Linux OS and knowledge of security tools such as Splunk Enterprise Security and Palo Alto Firewall. This year’s ICL featured a simulation of an advanced live-fire attack on an AWS network, with participants operating AWS security tools to respond to the attack.
“Exercises are a key component of testing cyber resilience as firms build the muscle memory required for a strong incident response. The ICL tournament is just one of the many ways FS-ISAC facilitates testing sector-wide preparedness,” said Cameron Dicker, Global Head of Business Resilience at FS-ISAC. “This competition is unique in that it allows teams to test their technical skills as well as their ability to work together in a simulated live-fire scenario among friendly competition, strengthening our resilience and cyber community as a whole.”
“Our second year of hosting the ICL tournament along with FS-ISAC did not disappoint. We had a tight race among the largest global financial institutions, exemplifying the level of cyber preparedness we hope to achieve in real-life scenarios,” said Sharon Rosenman, Chief Marketing Officer at Cyberbit. “Congratulations to the winning teams. We are grateful to all the teams who have participated in this year’s tournament and are excited to continue working towards strengthening the global financial sector through hyper-realistic cyber range exercises and collaboration.”
This year’s ICL tournament featured high-level competition as the top three teams’ final scores were separated by 7 points.
“We’re committed to safeguarding our global financial systems, and the ICL tournament was a great opportunity to test our team’s expertise in advanced threat detection and incident response. Our success is a testament to our dedication to the ongoing battle against cyber threats,” said Patrick Brodie, Head of Security Operations, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Company (SMBC).
