Digital superheroes

08/05/2025

2 min.

With Job Digital Lab, cybersecurity challenge at RomeCup 2025

Over 120 students from eight secondary schools, divided into 33 teams, competed on the morning of 8 May in the final round of the ‘Digital Superheroes’ ethical hacking competition, promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale with ING Italia, as part of the Job Digital Lab project.

For two hours straight, the participants never left their computers, immersing themselves in cybersecurity puzzles and putting the skills they had acquired during the training course to the test. It was an experience that required a high level of concentration, collaboration and problem solving, culminating in an exciting challenge hosted by RomeCup 2025 at Roma Tre University.

Final ranking

1st place Team Pakito
IIS Pacinotti, Fondi (LT)
Members: Iacovacci Giuseppe, Parisi Ciro, Vitiello Michele, Soscia Remo, Rotunno Marilisa

2nd place
Team Alice In Chains
Liceo Vailati, Genzano (RM)
Members: Luca Sinani, Giorgio Amato, Luca Nicolai

3rd place
Team Majorana
Liceo Majorana, Pozzuoli (NA)
Members: Ayan Marinescu, Antonio Solimeo, Christian Scognamiglio

An experience that leaves its mark
The ‘Digital Superheroes’ course allowed students to approach the world of cybersecurity in an engaging and educational way. After two introductory webinars, the students faced the final challenge in person, also interacting with industry experts and some players from the Italian national cyberdefender team.
It was an intense morning that demonstrated how ready young people are to become leaders in digital security, with passion, intelligence and civic awareness.

Some comments from students

Michele: ‘It was fun and stimulating. We really enjoyed working as a team.’
Remo: “We left at 5:30 this morning to get to the RomeCup. It's a great satisfaction to come home with this award!’
Giuseppe: ”I've been waiting for this event since last year's ended. We finally did it!’
Marilisa: ‘My teammates and I worked really well together, everyone gave their best.’
Ciro: ’A wonderful experience! In the end, we were afraid we wouldn't be able to deliver... but we did it!’
Antonio Pacinotti from Fondi (Latina)

Security is a culture

‘A culture of information security in an organisation is one of the most important aspects because, beyond the technical aspects, security is a culture. It is something that must mature in people's behaviour and be integrated into processes. We need to ensure that people are not put in a position to make mistakes, but above all that they are guided to do things the right way. It is an issue that starts with what we call ‘cyber hygiene’, i.e. those small everyday behaviours that prevent us from exposing ourselves, our activities, our families or our organisation to risks. From there, we then move on to broader considerations, such as ethics in the management of organisational data. Instilling this culture of security is crucial, but not easy: it is not enough to take an online course or offer bite-sized information. We need to create a system that rewards correct behaviour. Training is, of course, essential to provide the right guidance, but it must be followed by the practical application of basic principles. In a nutshell, we could say that information security culture is built on three fundamental elements: implementable and enforced policies, appropriate processes and consistent behaviour.

Corrado Giustozzi, Senior Cyber Security Strategist

Digital superheroes