Translation. Region: Russian Federation –
Source: Peoples'Friendship University of Russia
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
Mikhail Poltev, a master's student in Information Security at RUDN University, took third place in the Volga-IT'2025 International Digital Olympiad in Telecommunications and Information Security.
The competition has been held regularly since 2006, and this year marks its 16th edition. It is open to schoolchildren and students aged 16 to 23 from Russia and other countries. In the finals, they complete tasks based on real IT company cases.
Over 4,000 applications were submitted to the qualifying round of the competition this year, but only the top 100 made it to the in-person competition. The Olympiad covers nine disciplines and consists of three stages. The first is testing.
"The testing was easy; they asked simple questions about information security. I actually prepared for the competition by completing tasks from previous years and tasks on specialized websites like TryHackMy," said Mikhail Poltev.
The second stage was much more challenging and extensive. The student had to complete five tasks of varying difficulty in a month. For example, one task stated: "I once participated in a creative design competition for the website of the President of the Russian Federation, but no one liked my design. I want to find out who the people who served on the jury were." The Olympiad participant had to provide the first and last names of the jury members in their answer. Another challenge required the student to figure out the extension of an attached file, parse protocols, find the required protocol bundle, open a telephony system, find packets of jokes, and ultimately play the required sound in reverse.
"In the finals, they prepared a penetration test for us, setting up rigs where we searched for vulnerabilities. There were two operating systems: Linux and Windows. Finding almost all the flags (secret character strings) on Linux secured me third place in the competition," says Mikhail Poltev.
In addition to the challenges, during the in-person stage of the competition, participants will have the opportunity to interact with experts and attend master classes led by IT company employees.
"It was great to talk with representatives of the final task developer, Alingi (a leading developer of software for automating quality management processes). They were able to clarify all the details, and in the end, we fully developed the 'ideal' solution. The most valuable experience from participating in the Olympiad was that I tested my knowledge and skills in practice. This is my first final in the field of information security, and I want to continue participating in such competitions and achieving high results," says Mikhail Poltev.
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