OREANDA-NEWS. Kaspersky Lab is delighted to announce the winners of its global education project 'CyberSecurity for the Next Generation 2013'. Following the 2013 finals at Royal Holloway, University of London the prizes went to: Firman Azhari from the Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia (1st place); Dusan Repel from the University of Plymouth, UK (2nd place); and Iwan Gulenko from the Technical University of Munich, Germany (3rd place).

The successful trio emerged from a pool of 14 which battled through regional heats in North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and Russia & the CIS to reach the grand final which was held on June 24-27. In all, 10 different countries were represented in the finals at Royal Holloway, where the students' papers were assessed by a program committee of Kaspersky Lab experts, IT security professors and decision-makers from the IT industry. The three winners have received cash and other valuable prizes.

The winner of CSNG 2013, Indonesian student Firman Azhari, impressed the jury with his project “Detection of Security Vulnerability in Indonesian Near Field Communication (NFC) Applications” that looked at protection for e-payment and e-identity data. He analyzed the security levels of NFC cards and proposed a solution to manage security problems - from detection to prevention - using a mobile application called 'NFC Inspector' and a small portable device for analyzing NFC systems called 'AZlyzer'.

The CSNG project is the flagship of Kaspersky Lab's efforts to seek, support and educate talented young people from all over the globe as they set out on a career in IT security. CSNG conferences take place in major universities all over the world and involve student competitions, learning sessions, lectures by globally renowned experts, games and socializing.

Quotes

Firman Azhari, the winner

Bandung Institute of Technology, Indonesia

“I am so happy to receive this award! I have worked hard on the project, and I'm happy that the program committee thought so highly of it. This conference has been a really a great opportunity, and it makes me more determined than ever to continue my studies and build a career in IT security!”

Veniamin Ginodman

Head of Education Programs, Kasperksy Lab

“Cyber threats are evolving at high speed and unfortunately it doesn't look like there will be any let up in cybercriminal activity. Against this background it is vital to provide the younger generation with the benefits of a high-quality IT education. We would like every young specialist in any field to understand the importance of IT security. At the same time we want to see young IT professionals understand the overall situation in the cyber world and be trained to combat all the threats. Initiatives like CyberSecurity for the Next Generation are helping us to achieve these goals.”