picoCTF-Africa

A competition designed to introduce African students to the world of cybersecurity, held annually each March.
picoCTF-Africa 2023 will be held March 14-28.
A competition designed to introduce African students to the world of cybersecurity, held annually each March.
picoCTF-Africa 2023 will be held March 14-28.
picoCTF-Africa is a free computer security competition for undergraduate and graduate students across the African continent, created by security and privacy experts at Carnegie Mellon University Africa.
This competition is part of picoCTF, the annual computer security competition and learning platform created by CyLab Security and Privacy Institute. Participants of picoCTF-Africa will be ranked on an African-only leaderboard within the annual picoCTF competition.
Over the course of nearly a decade, picoCTF has become the world's largest online hacking competition. In 2022, nearly 18,000 people from around the world competed. The event has also grown to include several geographically-based leaderboards and programming, including Canada, Japan, and Africa.
Secondary schools:
University and other tertiary institutions:
picoCTF-Africa is open to everyone. Students and teams that do not meet these requirements can still participate, but will not be eligible to win contest prizes. Please see competition rules for details.
There is no fee to participate. Students can sign up to compete through the last day of the competition. There is no limit to the number of teams that can represent a single school, and team members do not have to attend the same school.
Students celebrate at the picoCTF-Africa 2022 awards ceremony
View previous training sessions:
Today’s digital world depends heavily on cybersecurity. With little or no security, technology adoption rates would be low and fintechs would be non-existent. With the development of picoCTF-Africa, CyLab-Africa aims to address the need for capacity development in the field of cybersecurity, for Africa’s unique and fragile digital environment.
By participating in picoCTF-Africa, students will walk away with an understanding of cybersecurity skills and knowledge in reverse engineering, forensics, web security, cryptography, and critical thinking—skills that are needed in the security industry.
Contact us with questions about picoCTF-Africa or to learn about sponsorships
Learn more about CyLab-Africa
Learn more about CyLab Security and Privacy Institute