Lyceum Student Wins Bronze at International Cybersecurity Olympiad

Photo courtesy of ico2025.sg

In June 2025, the finals of the International Cybersecurity Olympiad (ICO) took place in Singapore. The Russian national team competed alongside 128 talented school students from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, Italy, Japan, Laos, Macau, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Sweden, and others. The Russian team secured silver and took second place in the overall team ranking. This result was made possible thanks to the individual achievements of the team members, including Mikhail Selin, an 11th-grade student at the HSE Lyceum, who won a bronze medal.

The ICO final consisted of two rounds. In the first round, senior pupils had three hours to solve seven challenging tasks on cryptography, binary vulnerabilities, web vulnerabilities, and reverse engineering. The second round lasted five hours and included additional problems in penetration testing, steganography, and digital forensics.

In this interview, Mikhail Selin shares how he prepared for the international competition and which skills proved most useful in Singapore.

How I Got into Cybersecurity Olympiads

I became interested in cybersecurity in the 9th grade of school. That year, our lyceum offered an extracurricular CTF (Capture the Flag—a type of information security competition) course led by Konstantin Veselov (an HSE Lyceum graduate in Mathematics, Information Technology and Engineering, Class of 2018), a talented teacher and, at the time, a student on the Software Engineering programme at HSE’s Faculty of Computer Science. I enjoyed solving the problems, and together with other interested students we formed a team and started taking part in Russian cybersecurity competitions. Although we did not place in the top three, we often finished fifth or sixth. It was valuable hands-on experience. And in Years 10 and 11, I stayed motivated to continue playing CTF.

Mikhail Selin (right)

© HSE University

What Motivated Me

There was a long break when I stepped away from cybersecurity and focused entirely on competitive programming. I found algorithmic problems really interesting too, and it seemed to me that informatics olympiads would be more helpful for university admission prospects. What brought me back were new friends who were involved in both competitive programming and cybersecurity. My main motivation was the desire to be the best. I spent all of Year 11 studying hard to qualify for the All-Russian Olympiad and to win as many competitions as possible with my team. The friendly rivalry also helped me keep up the pace.

How I Prepared for the ICO

Like the other participants, I was coached by lecturers from Central University and Kaspersky Lab. The training involved attending lectures and regularly solving CTF challenges in various categories: cryptography, digital forensics, web vulnerability analysis, Windows and Linux security testing, reverse engineering, and binary exploitation. Just before the competition, Central University organised a week-long training camp. The preparation was quite different from that for the All-Russian Olympiad in Cybersecurity, as international competitions do not assess theoretical knowledge or project work. However, from the next academic year, the structure of Russian competitions is set to change, and a new task format may be introduced by the organisers.

The Most Challenging Part of the Preparation

The pace was very intense, as the olympiad was being held for the first time and was only announced in February. To keep up, I had to pay close attention during all the lectures and complete all the homework assignments in full—which I managed to do.

Useful Skills for the Olympiad

In this type of competition, time management is absolutely critical—it is important not to get stuck on a single task, especially if it is not going well. You also need to stay focused for long periods: each of the two rounds lasted five hours without a break. The ability to approach problems creatively and test every possible solution is essential.

How I Plan to Develop My Knowledge and Skills Further

Right now, I am focused on applying to university—I am considering HSE University and Central University. I would like to gain practical experience through internships, but not before my second year, although I have already received some offers. In the long term, I am interested in working in digital forensics and incident response (DFIR).

What Surprised Me Most About the ICO

First of all, the climate in Singapore—the humidity made the first few days really tough, and my body only started to adapt by the end of the trip. Secondly, the odd selection of tasks: some were incredibly difficult (even for experienced participants), while others were so easy they could be solved by a neural network. And some tasks felt more like guessing games than actual tests of skill.

Advice for Those Starting to Prepare for IT Olympiads

There is no secret formula: you need to practise regularly and solve as many problems as possible to build experience. Motivation can often be an issue—in my case, friends helped me get through those dips. Try to find a category of problems that you genuinely enjoy and find satisfying to solve. If you are struggling, consider switching to a related field within IT—such as competitive programming or data analysis—or even changing subjects altogether. The key is not to give up straight away if something does not work out. There is always someone who can guide you and help you move forward.

The second round of applications for Lyceum Online is now open, including the Mathematics, Information Technology and Engineering track. The application deadline is August 8, 2025 (see more in Russian).