An Irish team of cybersecurity teams beat global competition to win gold at the 2024 WorldSkills Global Skills Challenge in Australia.
Mark Drinan and Luke Woodside, guided by Dr George O’Mahony of Munster Technological University (MTU) beat teams from Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, Chinese Taiwan, and Singapore to become the first Irish team to win an official World Skills competition in cybersecurity.
The participants were put into a scenario where a fictitious company was under cyber-attack based on a rogue malicious USB and insider threat.
Over three days, the teams had to run digital forensics on an infected end-user computer and create reports including a technical brief, a timeline of the cyber-attack, a reports for the media and board of directors.
This competition was about accurately identifying what happened and providing real-world preventative measures and recommendations.
Drinan and Woodside will now take part in the WorldSkills International Cybersecurity Competition (Skill 54) in Lyon this September as part of WorldSkills Team Ireland.
Drinan is an engineer at IBM and recently graduated from MTU with a Masters in Cybersecurity, while Woodside is a graduate of Technological University of the Shannon and managing director of Woodside Networks.
Speaking about the pair’s achievement, Drinan said he was “incredibly proud” to represent his country and bring home a gold medal for Ireland, which he said “represents Ireland’s commitment to investing in high-quality, practical cybersecurity education.”
“This win is a great example of the work Ireland’s cybersecurity academics and experts are doing in preparing young Irish professionals to compete on the world stage,” said Dr O’Mahony, an expert in cybersecurity who trained and mentored the team.
“It highlights the calibre of talent being produced and the strong pipeline of skilled cybersecurity professionals available in Ireland.
“The win is a great boost to the team and a big step along their training and upskilling journey. The work Mark and Luke have put in has been a testament to their drive and determination.”
Drinan and Woodside trained on and competed nationally using MTU’s Cyber Range, a state-of-the-art cybersecurity platform unique to Ireland.
The facility enables simulations of cyber-attacks on virtual organisations, providing invaluable training for students, researchers, and industry professionals without risking real-world damage or outages.
“MTU’s leadership in cybersecurity education, research and innovation, mentorship and training ensures that our graduates and trainees have the skills, capabilities and confidence to succeed at the highest levels in Ireland and globally,” said Prof Maggie Cusack, president of MTU.
“On behalf of everyone at MTU, I am delighted to congratulate our Team Ireland members on their extraordinary achievement of winning gold at the WorldSkills cybersecurity challenge.”
Congratulating Drinan and Woodside, Michael Hourihan, also of MTU and the official delegate for WorldSkills Ireland, said the win “highlights the positive outcomes that result when skills and technological careers are recognised and promoted at national and international levels.”
Ray English of TU Dublin and WorldSkills Ireland chair-technical delegate, encouraged ICT students to start their Skills Olympics journey by participating in the WorldSkills Ireland National Competitions this September.
Photo: (l-r) Mark Drinan, Luke Woodside, Dr. George O Mahony. (Pic: Supplied)
