The activities of the first international competition for cybersecurity ARMYTHON 2023, which is specialized to armies and security services, concluded today, Monday, at the Hussein Bin Talal Palace for Conferences in the Dead Sea, with the participation of 12 teams representing 10 Arab and African countries, which was held on the sidelines of the AIDTSEC 2023 conference and exhibition of artificial intelligence for defense technology and cybersecurity, in the presence of Assistant Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Defense Planning, Organization and Resources, Chairman of the SOFEX Board of Directors, Brigadier General Tawfiq Al-Marzouq.

Ratib Abu Al-Ragheb, the official spokesman and head of the sales and business strategy department at JODDB, said: “Pursuant to the  vision of His Majesty King Abdullah II to invest in the human element and raise awareness in cybersecurity, and the interest of His Highness the Crown Prince in developing the cybersecurity system, to strengthen and protect official and private institutions, and the directives of the Chairman of the Commission in institutionalizing investment in the human element and linking it to performance measurement, the Jordanian Center for Design and Development " JODDB " was keen, in line with its strategic plans, to organize this international competition for cybersecurity "ARMYTHON", the first of its kind in the Middle East and Africa specialized  to armies and security agencies in the areas of Cyber security and cryptography.

Abu Al-Ragheb added that the distinction between the teams was not limited to the technical aspect, but extended to show distinction in other aspects such as teamwork, commitment and thinking creatively  to solve challenges, in addition to the teams’ application of tactical strategies to solve challenges, which gave team members a valuable opportunity to gain new applied experience.

Over the course of 3 days, the participants  involved in  a variety of challenges and hypotheses that were carefully designed to test the participants' capabilities in addressing cyber threats and protecting sensitive systems and data at the level of countries and public and private organizations.

The competition was distinguished by its coverage of more than 7 main areas through more than 120 challenges, which were carefully designed and built by specialized Jordanian experts who won awards in international competitions in the fields of cybersecurity and encryption, and under the supervision of the "Cyber Shield" Academy of the Jordanian Center for Design and Development (JODDB) and Princess Sumaya University for Technology.

The organizing of the competition came in line with the increase in modern cyber threats and piracy affecting the region and the world, with the aim of bringing together the best experts and specialists in the fields of cyber security and cryptography in one place, to promote and facilitate the exchange of experiences and knowledge between specialists from participating countries and analyze cyber threats and challenges.

In turn, the participants praised the high level of organization and the specific challenges that the capabilities and help them identify these threats and the way to deal with them.

At the end of the official ceremony, the results were announced and awards were handed over to those who deserve it, in addition to memorial shields to the partners, organizers, sponsors. The DARK KNIGHTS team from Jordan came in first place, the SHIELD team from the State of Qatar came in the second place, and the DEFENDERS team from Jordan came in the third place. .

The ceremony was attended by the Commander of the Central Military Region, Brigadier General Talal Al-Ghabeen, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Center / Director General, Brigadier General Eng. Ayman Al-Batran, a number of senior officers of the armed forces and security agencies, ambassadors and military attachés, a number of heads of public and private universities, and representatives of the companies supporting and sponsoring the conference.