From 350+ applications to one champion: School of Cyber Defense final stage at GISEC GLOBAL 2026

The second edition of the School of Cyber Defense competition reached its final at GISEC GLOBAL 2026, bringing the strongest student cybersecurity teams in the UAE to Dubai Exhibition Centre, Expo City. Building on its 2025 debut, the competition came back larger in scale and tougher in format: this year, participants had to do more than defend systems. They had to design working solutions to real industry challenges.

The competition was hosted by the Dubai Electronic Security Center (DESC) and organized by Techfirm. It drew more than 350 applications from students at more than 30 universities across the country. The road to the final ran through three stages:

Qualification. More than 300 participants from over 90 teams completed an automated, scenario-based qualification round. Over 90% of active teams scored above the 70% threshold needed to advance.

Case challenge. More than 70 teams submitted solutions to one of 15 official challenge briefs. An expert jury assessed each submission on fit to the brief, relevance, a working prototype, technical depth and innovation.

Live final. Only the seven highest-scoring teams reached the GISEC stage, fewer than one in ten of the teams that submitted a case. Finalists presented and defended their solutions live in front of the jury. The finalists represented BITS Pilani Dubai, American University of Sharjah, Al Ain University, Middlesex University Dubai, University of Wollongong in Dubai, University of Dubai and Abu Dhabi Polytechnic.

Winners of the School of Cyber Defense 2026:

●     1st Place: Unlisted (Middlesex University Dubai)

●     2nd Place: AUSec (American University of Sharjah)

●     3rd Place: ADPoly CyberGuard (Abu Dhabi Polytechnic)

The competition featured a prize pool worth AED 55,000, shared among the winning teams.

The competition was made possible by partners committed to developing young talent and strengthening the region's cybersecurity workforce. The Competition Industry Partners include AMD, Dahua Technology, Kaspersky, KERNO and M1 Global Infrastructure. The Competition Gold Partners are Anker Innovations, Circularo, HPE, Huawei, KnowBe4, RAS Infotech and Spire Solutions. Secureway is the Competition Silver Partner.

Now in its second year, the School of Cyber Defense has become a recurring platform where the UAE's future cybersecurity professionals test their skills against the demands of the real industry.