The university held an anniversary Olympiad on information and psychological security

On April 12, 2024, the X International Student Olympiad "Ways and Mechanisms of Protecting the Information Space of Ukraine from Harmful Information and Psychological Influences" was held at NAU.

The event was organized by the Faculty of Computer Science and Technology, the Faculty of Cyber Security and Software Engineering, the Faculty of Aeronautics, Electronics and Telecommunications, the Center for Innovation and Competence "Cyber Action" of NAU, the Research and Development Laboratory for Countering Cyber Threats in the Aviation Industry and the IT Academy. The partner of the event is the Scientific Association of Cybersecurity of Ukraine.

More than 100 students and cadets from Ukraine, Poland, Georgia, and Kazakhstan took part in the competition. In particular, 28 teams from the following educational institutions were registered:

• National Aviation University, Kyiv;
• Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv;
• National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine, Kyiv;
• Lviv Polytechnic National University;
• Heroes of Kruty Military Institute of Telecommunications and Informatization, Kyiv;
• National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute";
• Sumy State University;
• State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications, Odesa;
• National University "Chernihiv Polytechnic";
• State University of Trade and Economics, Kyiv;
• Central Ukrainian National Technical University, Kropyvnytskyi;
• Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University, Lutsk;
• Ivan Puluj Ternopil National Technical University;
• International Humanitarian University, Odesa;
• Poltava State Agrarian University;
• Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, Kyiv;
• Pedagogical University of the National Education Commission in Krakow, Poland;
• S. Esenov School of Cybersecurity at the Scientific Association of Cybersecurity, Tbilisi, Georgia;
• Caspian University of Technology and Engineering, Aktau, Kazakhstan;
• Kazakhstan-British Technical University, Almaty.

The initiator and ideological inspirer of the Olympiad, Valentyn Petryk, said: "It is great that this year we are holding the tenth anniversary Olympiad and I am glad that it is taking place at the National Academy of Sciences, whose students have been continuously and successfully participating in the event since 2015. I am grateful to the team of organizers and team leaders for the good preparation of the participants. Many newcomers joined us, which means that the topic is very relevant and the Olympiad has a future. It was also great that part of the event was held offline, because live communication is extremely important nowadays."

The Olympiad was held in two stages - online team competitions and individual competitions in a mixed format (competitions were held in 6 parallel groups, of which 3 groups competed offline and the other 3 competed online). As a result of the fierce competition, this year's winners of the individual competitions were determined:

• the first place was taken in their groups: Nazariy Chubaievsky (National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine), Daria Vaskivska (National Aviation University), Sofia Lapchuk (Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University), Dmytro Mostovyi (State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications) and Yulia Kolodych (Sumy State University);
• the second place went to: Viktoria Karpenko (State University of Trade and Economics), Alla Pinchuk and Vladyslav Bilonenko (National Aviation University), Oleksandr Bratchyk (Heroiv Kruty Military Institute of Telecommunications and Informatization), Valeriy Losev (Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv), Danylo Kovalenko and Diana Sichko (National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute"), Roman Lukianenko (Central Ukrainian National Technical University) and Vladyslav Afonin (International Humanitarian University).
• the third place went to: Kateryna Novosad and Anna Dombrovska (Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University), Anastasia Khmeletska (National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine), Yevhen Avramenko (National Aviation University), Bohdan Bakumenko (Chernihiv Polytechnic National University), Yuriy Pastushenko (State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications), Solomiya Bukatka (Ivan Puluj Ternopil National Technical University), Diana Kaznodiy (Lviv Polytechnic National University) and Iryna Trachuk (Sumy State University).

In the group where foreign participants competed, the following won:

• first place - Garry Manukov, Albert Panyan, Elene Melia (Cybersecurity School at the Scientific Association of Cybersecurity, Georgia);
• second place - Zharkynay Yespolova (Kazakhstan-British Technical University);
• third place - Roham Hamidi, Nika Kapianidze, Mari Maisuradze (Cybersecurity School at the Cybersecurity Science Association, Georgia).

In the team competition, the first place was won by the students of Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (zero worrying) and Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (cybersecurity agents).

"The teams from the National Academy of the Security Service of Ukraine (Cyber) and the National Aviation University (NAU-FCST) won “silver”.

The third place went to the teams of the National University of Chernihiv Polytechnic (NU "ChP"), National Aviation University (NAU-FAET), Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (404) and Interregional Academy of Personnel Management (ICITD).

Serhiy Hnatiuk, head of the Olympiad Organizing Committee, said: "It is difficult to overestimate the importance of information and psychological security as a component of the state's information security in times of war. Today, cyberspace is a full-fledged battlefield, and disinformation, propaganda and fakes are effective tools and, in fact, the aggressor's military arsenal in this war. I am confident that the developments of our participants have the prospect of practical use both to improve the level of cyber hygiene and media literacy of our society and to achieve advantages on the battlefield."