Until Friday, 42 national teams will hack and defend various systems. All of this takes place legally, in a competition environment specifically designed for the event.
Bochum, Germany, 12 October 2026. Finding security flaws before others can exploit them: that is what the European Cybersecurity Challenge (ECSC), which opens in Bochum today, is all about. Until Friday, more than 400 young people aged 14 to 25 compete in national teams. 35 European countries and seven guest countries are represented, including Australia, Canada, Singapore and the United States. The competitors qualified through national selection competitions with more than 30,000 participants in total.
At the ECSC opening ceremony at the RuhrCongress Bochum this afternoon, the trophy that the teams will compete for until Friday will be brought onto the stage by last year's winning team.
One week, three formats
The competition starts on Tuesday with three formats. In the Jeopardy format, teams tackle challenges involving web security, cryptography and reverse engineering. All teams work on the same tasks, with the aim of finding as many correct solutions as possible, as quickly as possible. On Wednesday, participants will work offline and against the clock in the new CTF-Unplugged format. The competition concludes on Thursday with the Attack-Defense format, in which teams defend their own services while simultaneously attacking those of other teams. The winning teams will be honoured on Friday afternoon at the Jahrhunderthalle Bochum.
A home game for Team Germany
Host country Germany will compete with its own national team. The ten members qualified through the Cyber Security Challenge Germany.
“Competing in front of a home crowd is something special. We have worked towards this for a long time and now we want to show what we can do.”
Luke Finn Zamponi, captain of the German national team
“To protect a system, you need to understand how attackers work. That is exactly what these young people practise, legally and by clear rules. Cyberattacks do not stop at borders. That is why it matters so much that talents from 42 countries meet in Bochum this week and learn from one another”
Patrick Reich, Chair of Nachwuchsförderung IT-Sicherheit e.V.
Organisers and partners
ECSC 2026 is organised by the volunteer-run Nachwuchsförderung IT-Sicherheit (NFITS). Bochum is the host city. ECSC takes place every year with the support of ENISA, the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity. ECSC 2026 is funded by the European Union through the European Cybersecurity Competence Centre (ECCC). The main sponsor is Schwarz Digits, the platinum sponsor is IKARUS together with Securepoint.
Media
Information for media: ecsc2026.de/media. Press photos will be added to the gallery during the week. See the full schedule for more details.
Media contact
Lars Adolph
Nachwuchsförderung IT-Sicherheit e.V.
media@ecsc2026.de
+49 174 2372295
Further information and accreditation:
ecsc2026.de/media