CISA unveils President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition winners
CISA unveils President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition winners
Publish Date: 2026-06-09 12:03:00
Source Domain: www.nextgov.com
Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency on Tuesday announced the winners of its 7th annual cybersecurity contest that brings federal employees together to test digital security strategies and responses. The winners of the President’s Cup Cybersecurity Competition competed across three categories. For the Defense Track Champion, the “sheriffsparks” team from the U.S. Navy won, and the Offensive Track Champion winner was team “bdubya” from the U.S. Army. The final winner of the Teams Champion category is the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps’ “ENOENTHUSIASM” team. The President’s Cup, an initiative established by President Donald Trump in an executive order during his first term in office, aims to test and harness the cybersecurity knowledge of federal workers across the government. Tasks in the challenge feature simulations of “high-stakes cyber operations requiring precision, resilience, and deep technical knowledge,” per the press release. Examples of scenarios include incident response, analyzing digital forensics, reverse engineering and threat hunting. “The President’s Cup features the best cybersecurity talent the U.S. government has to offer,” said CISA Acting Director Nick Andersen in the press release. “These champions rose above an elite field, securing victory through sharp analysis, decisive action, and advanced cyber tradecraft. We congratulate this year’s winners and thank everyone who participated in the seventh annual President’s Cup.”The President’s Cup began in January, with finalists competing to the end of May. CISA said that over 800 individuals and 200 teams entered to compete in the 2026 Cup. While the competition aims to reward and highlight cybersecurity talent and promote cybersecurity education within the federal workforce, it also aims to bring levity and fun to digital defense and government work.Michael Harpin, the cyber training branch chief at CISA, told Nextgov/FCW in 2024 that the President’s Cup isn’t meant to simply be an extension of daily work. “We do want to have some fun with the participants and not to make it too regimented,” Harpin said. “But we do also want to focus that these are real-life skills and tasks that they would have to do within a cybersecurity workforce.”
