du's newly-launched student InfoSec award

In the spirit of fostering innovation and nurturing the progression of local talent in the field of information security, du invites students across the UAE to participate in its newly-launched Student InfoSec Award. The Student InfoSec Award is a competition that encourages students across the UAE to develop new technologies, techniques and methods related to cyber security, with the top three innovations to be awarded at the du Cyber Security Conference 2014. To participate, students must be enrolled at any accredited university or college in the UAE. They can enter as individuals or as a group, and have until 9 April to submit an initial proposal through du's website. Their final project demonstration and presentation should be submitted by 9 July 2014. "This is an exciting opportunity to nurture the UAE's grown talent and develop a local security industry talent pool," said Marwan Bindalmook, Senior Vice President, Technology Security '&' Risk Management in du. "There is unharnessed potential within the UAE's universities, and we aim to bring forth students who are talented enough to contribute to a future pool of security industry products in the UAE. Also, the Initiative links the academic sector with the industry sector. Submissions can be in the form of new technologies, techniques or methods that will enhance the information security field, and we encourage students to examine the industry and find those areas that they feel they can contribute to with significant improvements." The students will present a demo of their project to a committee of technical experts, who will select the top three projects. These will be awarded at the du Cyber Security Conference 2014, with an AED 15,000 prize for first place, AED 10,000 for second place, and AED 5,000 fr third place. Throughout the competition, du will look amongst the competitors to identify candidates for possible future job openings.