From September 30 to October 9, 2026, participants of the Pilot Program for Enhancing Cybersecurity Skills Gaps in Ukraine completed the first practical stage of the program — two intensive Bootcamps focused on key areas of modern cybersecurity.
This year, the training was delivered across two tracks:
SOC Analyst — Security Operations Center operations, security event monitoring, analysis of potential threats, detection of suspicious activity, and incident response.
Cyber Threat Intelligence & Incident Response — cyber threat detection and analysis, investigation of adversary tactics and techniques, working with threat intelligence, incident response, attack containment, and recovery.
From Theory to Practical Cyber Scenarios
One of the key objectives of the program is to bridge the gap between academic knowledge and the practical skills future cybersecurity professionals need.
During the Bootcamps, students not only studied theoretical materials but also immediately applied their knowledge in practice.
Participants analyzed security events, worked with data on potential threats, identified signs of attacks, and practiced responding to cyber incidents. The practical part of the training took place on the CybExer cyber range, enabling realistic cyberattack scenarios to be simulated and bringing the learning process closer to the real working environment of cybersecurity teams.
The Next Stage — Capture The Flag
The Bootcamp stage is complete, but the program now moves to the next level — qualification Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions.
The SOC Analyst qualification CTF will take place on October 22, followed by the Cyber Threat Intelligence & Incident Response qualification CTF on October 23.
During the qualification rounds, participants will work with practical cases under time constraints. They will analyze cyber incidents, identify indicators of compromise and attack activity, determine threat sources, make response decisions, and complete tasks designed to closely reflect real-world cybersecurity operations.
The Final Is Ahead
Based on the results of the two qualification stages, the top participants will advance to the program final in November 2026.
The final stage will provide an opportunity to test not only technical knowledge, but also the ability to analyze situations, make decisions quickly, and work with complex cyber scenarios.
We continue moving from knowledge to practice, and from practice to real cybersecurity skills — helping build a strong professional community of future cybersecurity specialists in Ukraine.
The Pilot Program for Enhancing Cybersecurity Skills Gaps in Ukraine is implemented by Security Expert Group (SEG) and CybExer with the support of the Estonian Centre for International Development (ESTDEV).
