Yarmouk University and the Cryptira Student Community organize the largest cybersecurity competition for school students.
Under the generous patronage of the President of Yarmouk University, Professor Dr. Malik Al-Shrairi, the Faculty of Information Technology and Computer Science at the university, in collaboration with the Cybersecurity Student Community Cryptira and the Imaar Irbid Foundation, organized the national Cryptira Capture the Flag (YU-Cryptera CTF 2026) competition for school students, which saw participation from over 100 students from various governorates and schools in Jordan.
The competition was inaugurated on behalf of the university president by the Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, Dr. Qassem Al-Radaideh, in the presence of the Director of the Irbid Development Foundation, Engineer Munther Al-Bataineh, the leader of the technical team supervising the competition, Mohamed Al-Shurman, and the Irbid 42 initiative affiliated with the Crown Prince Foundation.
At the closing ceremony of the competition, Dr. Al-Radaideh awarded the winners their cash prizes and distributed certificates to all participants, including students and teachers. The final ceremony was attended by a crowd of students' families, teachers, members of the Irbid Development Foundation, and faculty members of the college.
Dr. Al-Radaideh indicated that the competition began with an intensive training camp at the beginning of this year for a number of school students in Irbid and beyond. The training focused on equipping students with self-learning and problem-solving skills in cybersecurity. Subsequently, a preliminary competition was held for the students to determine the participants in the final competition.
To achieve one of the competition's goals, which is to engage with the local community, the competition was held in the multipurpose hall at the Irbid Development Foundation.
The competition, which was supervised academically by the assistant dean Dr. Qusai Al-Zoubi, included various topics such as cyber investigation, reverse engineering, open-source intelligence, encryption, and other categories of importance in the cyber space. The competition lasted for five hours.
The competition concluded with three student teams winning the top three positions, and the results were as follows: First place went to the team (SLIGHTLY CLOSE), which includes students (Obada Awawda, Rakan Namas, Rayan As'ad, Diaa Al-Halbouni) from Irbid schools.
The second place was awarded to the team (Neuro Black), which includes the students (Oss Afaneh, Saad Al-Safadi, Mohammed Al-Shakibi, and Aoun As'ad) from schools in Amman.
In third place was the team (JoShield), which includes students (Mahmoud Shnaq, Mohammed Ahmed, Yahya Zubaidi, and Aoun Hamadeen) from Taqarrub Schools.
Mohammad Al-Sharaman, one of the founders of the community, indicated that the Cybertera community aims to discover young Jordanian cyber talents and activate the practical application of cybersecurity. The community was established at the end of 2025 by a group of students and graduates from the Model School, led by graduate Mohammad Al-Sharaman and student Abdullah Mayas.
It is worth mentioning that the "Capture The Flag" (CTF) competition is an educational and competitive event in cybersecurity, where participants (individuals or teams) aim to find "flags" (hidden text strings) within systems or programs that contain specially designed vulnerabilities. These competitions are a practical way to acquire skills in ethical hacking, forensic analysis, and cryptography.
Under the generous patronage of the President of Yarmouk University, Professor Dr. Malik Al-Shrairi, the Faculty of Information Technology and Computer Science at the university, in collaboration with the Cybersecurity Student Community Cryptira and the Imaar Irbid Foundation, organized the national Cryptira Capture the Flag (YU-Cryptera CTF 2026) competition for school students, which saw participation from over 100 students from various governorates and schools in Jordan.
The competition was inaugurated on behalf of the university president by the Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology, Dr. Qassem Al-Radaideh, in the presence of the Director of the Irbid Development Foundation, Engineer Munther Al-Bataineh, the leader of the technical team supervising the competition, Mohamed Al-Shurman, and the Irbid 42 initiative affiliated with the Crown Prince Foundation.
At the closing ceremony of the competition, Dr. Al-Radaideh awarded the winners their cash prizes and distributed certificates to all participants, including students and teachers. The final ceremony was attended by a crowd of students' families, teachers, members of the Irbid Development Foundation, and faculty members of the college.
Dr. Al-Radaideh indicated that the competition began with an intensive training camp at the beginning of this year for a number of school students in Irbid and beyond. The training focused on equipping students with self-learning and problem-solving skills in cybersecurity. Subsequently, a preliminary competition was held for the students to determine the participants in the final competition.
To achieve one of the competition's goals, which is to engage with the local community, the competition was held in the multipurpose hall at the Irbid Development Foundation.
The competition, which was supervised academically by the assistant dean Dr. Qusai Al-Zoubi, included various topics such as cyber investigation, reverse engineering, open-source intelligence, encryption, and other categories of importance in the cyber space. The competition lasted for five hours.
The competition concluded with three student teams winning the top three positions, and the results were as follows: First place went to the team (SLIGHTLY CLOSE), which includes students (Obada Awawda, Rakan Namas, Rayan As'ad, Diaa Al-Halbouni) from Irbid schools.
The second place was awarded to the team (Neuro Black), which includes the students (Oss Afaneh, Saad Al-Safadi, Mohammed Al-Shakibi, and Aoun As'ad) from schools in Amman.
In third place was the team (JoShield), which includes students (Mahmoud Shnaq, Mohammed Ahmed, Yahya Zubaidi, and Aoun Hamadeen) from Taqarrub Schools.
Mohammad Al-Sharaman, one of the founders of the community, indicated that the Cybertera community aims to discover young Jordanian cyber talents and activate the practical application of cybersecurity. The community was established at the end of 2025 by a group of students and graduates from the Model School, led by graduate Mohammad Al-Sharaman and student Abdullah Mayas.
It is worth mentioning that the "Capture The Flag" (CTF) competition is an educational and competitive event in cybersecurity, where participants (individuals or teams) aim to find "flags" (hidden text strings) within systems or programs that contain specially designed vulnerabilities. These competitions are a practical way to acquire skills in ethical hacking, forensic analysis, and cryptography.
Engineer Al-Bataineh expressed his pleasure with this partnership with Yarmouk University and the Cryptira community in organizing this competition. He praised the high level of organization and supervision and welcomed further collaboration for the benefit of our Jordanian youth.
