What is NJCO?
The National Junior Cybersecurity Olympiad (NJCO) is designed for students in NZ Years 9 through 13 (grades 8 through 12) and first and second-year undergraduates. The course and the exam will be the same for all students, although the classification will take place within each Year/ Grade.
Register Now!
Competition date and time:
Sun 15 Sep 2024
Closing date of registering: Fri 23 Aug 2024
Fees for the NJCO is $68 per student.
Please note: If you registered after the deadline, the fees will be doubled.
The successful registration is confirmed upon receipt of the registration fee.
BANK: ANZ
Name of Account: Pinnacle Education Group
Account: 06-0241-0684634-00
Please make payment with the students 'full name + NJCO ' as reference.
⚠️ Please note that any fees and payments made are non-refundable.
⚠️ Before you make any payment, make sure you read through the refund policy on our website to avoid misunderstandings.
(Terms and conditions apply).
PGA reserves the right to interpret all competition and course arrangements.
Eligible year groups:
NZ Year 9-13, and first and second-year undergraduates.
Competition format: Online at home
Calculators are NOT permitted.
The successful registration is confirmed upon receipt of the registration fee.
Format of the Course
The NJCO course offers 4 pre-recorded online video lessons, each 2 hours long, totaling 8 hours.
Designed for high school and university students, it’s created by NUS's NCL (National Cybersecurity R&D Lab) and CeNCE (Centre for Nurturing Computing Excellence).
The flexible format allows students to learn at their own pace, with the ability to pause, rewind, and review lessons anytime, anywhere.
Format of the Contest
40 multiple-choice questions divided into 10 questions for each topic presented in the Syllabus.
Each correct answer will be awarded 2.5 points, and no points will be deducted for blank or incorrect answers.
Syllabus of NJCO
Topic 1: Cryptography
This topic introduces Cryptography, including encryption, hash techniques, pitfalls, and its historical context. These concepts are of fundamental importance in laying the foun- dations of cybersecurity. Students will learn and experience adversarial thinking through examples, understand what cryptography can achieve, and become familiar with some common types of cryptography and its intriguing techniques.
Topic 2: Networking Fundamentals
This topic introduces adversarial thinking in networks, network discovery through the Wireshark tool, and the Era of Digitalization. Students will also learn how to trace the network journey from the URL to a webpage, gaining an overview of the source page and exploring the functionalities of the Wireshark network tool.
Topic 3: Red Teaming & Introduction to CTFs
This topic introduces the fundamental concepts of Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions and their many categories. In addition, students will become familiar with Linux operat- ing systems, including basic commands, file permissions and processing, and how to install software and tools in a Linux environment. Furthermore, students will explore the programming languages commonly used to solve CTF challenges, supplemented with practical CTF demonstrations.
Topic 4: Digital Forensics
This topic introduces Digital Forensics, covering the main stages of the digital forensics process, such as the identification, preservation, collection, examination, analysis, and presentation of digital evidence. Students will explore various types of digital evidence, such as Network Traffic Logs, Memory Dumps, Data Imaging, and File System Artifacts. Additionally, students will become familiar with the tools commonly used in forensic investigations. Hands-on exercises will provide practical experience in the application of forensic techniques and tools in real-world scenarios.
Awards
The awards will adhere to CenCE's classification criteria, followed by the NOI. Accordingly, let be the total number of participants in the NJCO competition.
Based on the ranking and scores of these participants, the following proportions will determine the distribution of awards:
• Gold Medals: about 1/12 of the contestants in each grade (Top 8.3%).
• Silver Medals: about 1/6 of the contestants in each grade (Next 16.7%).
• Bronze Medals: about 1/4 of the contestants in each grade (Next 25%).
STEAM Ahead - IJCO
The International Junior Cybersecurity Olympiad (IJCO) is the global round of the NJCO and is part of the STEAM AHEAD event, which will take place in December 2024 in Istanbul, Turkey.
IJCO is a course-based competition available to NJCO and DrCT medalists who wish to compete with outstanding students world- wide for globally recognized awards.
NJCO or DrCT -> IJCO
