In Belgium, just like in the rest of the world, cyber security has become a strategic priority for organizations across all sectors. In this context, training and hiring young potential in the area of information security has become even more crucial than in the past.
With more than 10 successful editions behind us, the Cyber Security Challenge Belgium has become the reference event for students and young graduates who want to demonstrate their skills in the field of cyber security. In addition to showing their technical abilities, participants also have the opportunity to connect with industry professionals and potential employers, as well as compete for a spot in the Belgian Red Daemons, the Belgian ECSC CTF Team.
Want to know more?
March 2026
Registered players are invited to solve challenges on an online platform, over a duration of two days. The qualifiers run from 10:00 on Friday morning until 18:00 on Saturday evening. You can register your team on the CTF platform.
Top qualifying players are split based on ECSC elegibility. ECSC elegible players are invited for the ECSC track, while other top scoring players are invited for the CSCBE track.
March 28, 2026
Those selected for the ECSC finals will play individually and compete for a spot in the Belgian Red Daemons, the Belgian ECSC CTF Team, at the on-site finals in Brussels.
The finals will take place in the Royal Military Academy, in the heart of Brussels.
Hotel accommodation and meals are also offered to the participating teams that make it to the second day of the finals.
Got questions? We have an answer.
Here is a list of answers to frequently asked questions about the Cyber Security Challenge. You can also send us all your questions through the contact form below.
During the qualifiers, we will also be available on our Discord, which you can find on our platform after authenticating.
Based on the principles of a Capture The Flag (CTF), this computer security competition is a challenge-based game played by teams of maximum 4 students. Over a limited timeframe, the teams must solve challenges covering a wide range of security issues, e.g. cryptography, reverse engineering, network security, web or mobile application security, wireless and forensics analysis. Complexity of challenges range from trivial up to very difficult.
We now have two tracks to better align the CSCBE (Cyber Security Challenge Belgium) with the European Cyber Security Challenge (ECSC) and to field a strong team of eligible candidates.
Eligibility depends on the track:
You are invited to the finals depending on your ranking at the end of the qualifiers, and your eligibility for the different tracks:
The points that are earned during the qualifiers are not transferred to the finals.
Of course! Challenges have been designed for students, not for security specialists, so you don’t need to be a security expert to join. A good general IT knowledge and a good level of motivation is what matters most. The Cyber Security Challenge is composed of challenges designed with all levels of complexity.
A good way to get started with the Cyber Security Challenge is to take a look at write-ups from some of the past Cyber Security Challenge editions:
Once you feel you’re ready to try and solve some challenges on your own, you could take a look at the "awesome-ctf repository": it contains a list of useful tools sorted per category (reversing, cryptography, web, …). It also contains a list of "wargames" available 24/7 for practicing.
For example, the "overthewire wargames" feature a series of challenges, and suggests an order in which to play them based on their difficulty. You can also ask questions on our Discord channel. The link can be found on our platform after authenticating.
The first "Qualifiers" round of the event will take place online, while the finals are onsite in Brussels.
The second "Final" round of the event will be hosted at a venue in Brussels
The challenge is energized by NVISO, supported by large private corporations and banks (our sponsors), as well as public agencies and organizations that are committed to raising our country’s awareness on cyber-security threats and help train a generation of security-aware professionals and security experts. All sponsors are regularly recruiting talented graduates to re-inforce their security teams, so you may also be meeting your future employer at our event!
We have a wide range of challenges ranging from general security knowledge over mobile security to reverse engineering and cryptography. Some of them will be easy and others will be a challenge even for the more skilled participants. To get a feel for what you can expect you can always head over to the write-ups of the previous editions on GitHub (see "How can I prepare for the Cyber Security Challenge?")
