Contents
Why participate
I Am a Professional is a national competition for students majoring in a variety of fields, including engineering, humanities, natural sciences, pedagogy, agriculture, and medicine. In its seven seasons, the contest welcomed over a million students.
Monetary prizes. Medalists will receive prize money of between 100,000 and 300,000 rubles depending on their place and level of study.
Admission benefits. Medalists, winners, and prize winners are to get benefits when applying to Russian universities. Thus, winners of the Information & Cyber Security track can enroll exam-free into the programs offered by the Faculty of Secure Information Technologies, such as Information Security, AI Systems Security, Functional Safety of Autonomous Transport Vehicles, and others. In 2024, 37 medalists and winners, as well as 95 final round participants, enrolled at ITMO.
Internships. This season, all students who passed the selection stage can benefit from using the career platform where they can find a job or internship offer from Russia’s top companies.
Credit: ITMO Mediaportal
Who can join and how
The competition is open to Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Specialist’s students of Russian universities and higher education institutions, regardless of their form of studies.
The registration will be open until November 12.
To join the competition, students need to:
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visit the official website and click the corresponding button;
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create a new Yandex account or log in an existing one;
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fill out the registration form and choose the desired tracks;
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upload a scanned copy of student ID or certificate confirming student status.
Former finalists don’t have to go through the selection round, however this option isn’t available at all tracks. The list of eligible tracks will be published on the competition’s website soon.
The competition offers a choice of 70+ tracks to choose from. ITMO University is responsible for Robotics, Information & Cyber Security, and Programming & Information Technologies. Last season, 44,000 participants registered for these tracks.
The tracks’ general partner is Sberbank.
Structure
The track is held in two stages:
Qualifying round. The five-day round is held online in late November. Participants are required to demonstrate their expertise in the field of information security, namely:
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an understanding of how ciphers work;
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an understanding of post-quantum cryptography methods and the ability to calculate public keys based on input;
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knowledge of the fundamentals of web development, design of modern web apps and types of common web app vulnerabilities;
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applied cryptography skills and knowledge of the limitations of cryptographic algorithms;
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the ability to perform reverse engineering and analyze program code.
Finals. The final round will be held at ITMO University. At this stage, participants will get one attempt to complete a project in the testing system Yandex Context.
Credit: ITMO Mediaportal
Tasks
The track consists of cryptography and CTF (Capture-The-Flag) tasks, in which students are challenged to find as many flags (combinations of unique symbols) as possible. For that end, participants are offered applied tasks in information security along with tasks in machine learning and blockchain.
Task examples:
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create an e-signature using DSA algorithms;
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analyze network traffic using computer networks and UDP protocols;
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demonstrate your expertise in asymmetric cryptosystems and modular arithmetics;
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demonstrate your expertise in asymmetric cryptosystems and modular arithmetics;
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investigate an incident and analyze e-documents of various formats.
Credit: ITMO Mediaportal
How to prepare
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examine resources from previous years: demo tasks and webinars from qualifying and final rounds, as well as a list of literature, online courses, and libraries. Some tasks can also be found on your personal page;
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take a free course by Yandex Cloud;
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practice solving CTF competition tasks and attend CTF Club’s meetings at ITMO.
Career paths for information security enthusiasts
Master’s programs. ITMO University offers three Master’s programs in this field:
The Information Security program trains specialists who can efficiently prevent cyberattacks and ensure data security. Students learn to test genuine systems, design complex cybersecurity systems, and identify vulnerable network segments.
In the AI Systems Security program, students learn to design and support the introduction of AI-based security processes and prevent threats to complex systems.
The Functional Safety of Autonomous Transport Vehicles program is designed for those who wish to make autonomous transport safe and accelerate its usage in everyday life.
Participate in contests. Students at the Faculty of Secure Information Technologies regularly participate and excel at CTF competitions; the university also hosts its own CTF contests. Follow CTF Club’s Telegram channel to know about upcoming events.
