Three members of IFIP Working Group 9.10 (ICT Uses in Peace and War) were part of a team that won the Strategy and Policy track of the Global Cyberpeace Challenge 2.0. The team comprised Dr Brett van Niekerk, Dr Trishana Ramluckan, Mrs Noëlle van der Waag-Cowling, and a master’s candidate.

The team was multi-disciplinary, with Dr van Niekerk (WG 9.10 Chair) leading the team and bringing technical experience. Dr Trishana Ramluckan specialises in International Humanitarian Law related to cyber security, and Mrs van der Waag-Cowling specialises in cyber strategy.

Dr van Niekerk is a senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa, and Dr Ramluckan has recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship at UKZN’s School of Law. Mrs van der Waag-Cowling is a researcher at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa housed at Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

From the original 12 teams who reached the semi-finals, four teams progressed to the finals on the second day. Each team represented a specific country responding to a hypothetical evolving international cyber-attack crisis. The teams were required to submit and present a holistic strategy based on technical, policy, social and economic factors in the form of advice to the hypothetical national leaders.

The Global Cyber Challenge is organised by the CyberPeace Foundation, a non-government organisation based in India. There were participants from 55 countries competing across the three tracks of the challenge. The CyberPeace Foundation is a non-governmental organisation headquartered in India, with a focus on promoting five United Nations sustainability goals with respect to the Internet. Their primary activities are advocacy, policy engagement, and capacity building.