European Cybersecurity Challenge 2026

Join the 2026 edition of the European Cybersecurity Challenge from 12 - 16 October in Bochum, Germany. The annual European event brings together young talent from all over the EU Member States. National cybersecurity teams made up of 10 best talents aged between 14 and 25 take part in the competition, which is held annually in one of the European countries. 

About this event 

The European Cybersecurity Challenge is an initiative by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and the German NFITS e.V. (Network for IT-Security) and aims at enhancing cybersecurity talent across Europe and connecting high potentials with industry leading organisations. It is the continent's largest cybersecurity competition for youngsters, running since 2014. The event features challenges across multiple disciplines over five days in October 2026.

Top cyber talents from each participating country will meet in the city of Bochum to network and collaborate and finally compete against each other. Contestants will be challenged in solving security related tasks from domains such as web security, mobile security, crypto, reverse engineering, and forensics and in the process collect points for solving them.

Further details and registration

Navigate to the main page for the European Cybersecurity Challenge 2026 and explore a range of activities, designed with youngsters in mind. 

Check out also ENISA's map to see all the countries taking part in the challenge.