Phase 3 is complete — Team Albania is set. Albania's top 30 qualifiers competed in the Phase 2 Selection CTF — a 2-day Jeopardy event held on June 8–9, 2026, 14:00–22:00 each day. The Final 10 who will represent Albania at ECSC 2026 in Bochum, Germany have now been selected from this competition — see the results below.
Albania's national online qualifier has concluded. The CSCG 2026 platform — generously provided by our German partners — hosted a Jeopardy-style CTF where the best young hackers competed for a place to represent Albania at the European Cyber Security Challenge (ECSC) in Bochum, Germany.
Albania's national online qualification was a solo Jeopardy-style CTF open to all Albanian residents aged 14–25. Challenges spanned reverse engineering, web, crypto, pwn, forensics, steganography, PPC, misc, and hardware — testing the full spectrum of cybersecurity skills.
Open to all young people aged 14–25 with Albanian citizenship or residency. Whether you're a student, self-taught hacker, or aspiring security professional — if you have the skills, we want you. No prior competition experience needed.
The Top 30 qualifiers from the online phase advance to the internal selection at the AKSK laboratory. The final 10 (5 Juniors + 5 Seniors) earn their place in Team Albania. All travel, accommodation, and expenses to ECSC 2026 in Bochum are covered.
30 exceptional hackers have stepped up and proved that Albanian talent belongs on the European stage. The qualification is complete — now the real journey begins. The final team of 10 will carry the Albanian flag to Bochum.
Four phases from online qualification to representing Albania at ECSC 2026 — Phases 1–3 are complete.
The online Jeopardy-style CTF ran on the CSCG platform from March 1 – May 1, 2026. Participants competed solo across age groups: AL/Junior (14–20) and AL/Senior (21–25). Albania's Top 30 have been selected and are advancing to Phase 2.
The Top 30 players competed in the internal Selection Jeopardy CTF on June 8–9, 2026, 14:00–22:00 each day. The Final 10 have been selected based on their performance — see the results below.
The Final 10 have been selected from the Phase 2 Selection CTF. Coaches ensured discipline balance — experts in Web, Pwn, Crypto, and Forensics. Per ENISA rules: 5 Juniors (14–20) and 5 Seniors (21–25).
Travel to Bochum, Germany (October 12–16, 2026). Day 1: elite Jeopardy. Day 2: high-intensity Attack-Defense. Defend your Vulnbox, exploit your opponents, submit flags. An award ceremony with government and industry leaders concludes the event.
The experienced professionals who will guide and train the top qualifiers into Team Albania for ECSC 2026.
With a solid background in network security engineering and a passion for tackling complex cybersecurity challenges, Bledar brings invaluable expertise to Incident Investigation, Incident Response and Digital Forensics at AKSK (NCSA). His extensive experience in designing, implementing and maintaining secure network and system infrastructures ensures the team's defensive capabilities are robust and effective.
With a rich background in diverse projects, Kristian adeptly utilizes programming languages such as C#, Java, Python, JavaScript, and TypeScript. His proficiency extends to frameworks like ASP.NET MVC, Unity, Springboot, Angular, Flask, and Django. Boasting significant experience in analyzing malicious programs and detecting security vulnerabilities in digital environments.
With a diverse background spanning IT, Political Sciences, Military service, and International Relations, Jetmir brings multifaceted expertise to his role. Currently serving on the Red Team at NCSA, his focus is on pentesting and finding vulnerabilities before the adversaries. A recognized leader in hackathons, tabletop exercises, and capacity-building workshops, he is fiercely dedicated to fortifying Albania's critical information infrastructures.
With a strong background in cybersecurity, industrial systems and engineering, Ervis brings extensive experience in Incident Response, Digital Forensics & Incident Response (DFIR), Threat Hunting, Threat Intelligence and Security Operations. His work spans protecting critical infrastructure, analyzing cyber threats and coordinating incident response activities, alongside the design and implementation of cyber ranges, OT/ICS laboratories and hands-on cybersecurity exercises. He also contributes to technology innovation through embedded systems and Industrial IoT development.
The 5 Seniors + 5 Juniors selected from the Phase 2 Selection CTF to represent Albania at ECSC 2026 in Bochum, Germany.
The internal Selection CTF ran June 8–9, 2026. Final standings of all 21 competitors who advanced from the Top 30. Team Albania’s Final 10 is drawn from these results together with coach assessment of skills and topic coverage.
Ties were broken by first bloods (challenges solved first). The Final 10 who will represent Albania at ECSC 2026 in Bochum are selected from these standings in combination with coach evaluation — see Team Albania above.
Qualification phase concluded on May 1, 2026. These 30 players earned their place through skill and determination — they advance to the internal selection phase at the AKSK laboratory.
All 30 qualifiers competed in the Phase 2 Selection CTF on June 8–9, 2026, 14:00–22:00 each day. The Final 10 (5 Juniors + 5 Seniors) who will represent Albania at ECSC 2026 in Bochum, Germany have now been selected based on CTF performance.
A sincere thank you to the BSI (Federal Office for Information Security) and the entire CSCG team from Germany for generously providing their world-class platform for Albania's national online qualification. Their commitment to fostering European cybersecurity talent made this qualifying campaign possible. Albania is proud to be part of this community.
Where the top qualifiers will compete — five days in Bochum, Germany.
Located in the heart of Germany's Ruhr region, Bochum combines rich industrial heritage with cutting-edge academic research — home to one of Europe's leading cybersecurity research centers.
Team registration, environment setup, opening ceremony. Meet teams from 35+ countries.
Individual CTF challenges across all categories: web, crypto, pwn, reverse engineering, forensics.
Details to be announced. Stay tuned for updates.
Real-time team vs. team exploitation & defense. Protect your services, exploit theirs.
Final standings, awards ceremony, closing event and celebrations.
ECSC history — twelve years of European cybersecurity excellence.
Questions about the selection process? Interested in partnering or collaborating? Get in touch.