Context

Cybersecurity education faces a critical gap: the disconnect between static academic theory and the dynamic reality of cyber threats. Traditional methods fail to prepare students for real-world incidents. Pentest Arena directly addresses the DigiEduHack challenge of "Rethinking education in the age of digital skills" by disrupting the passive learning model.

We replace outdated labs with interactive “battle rooms”—safe, isolated environments where learners actively simulate attacks and defense. Unlike existing platforms that are often prohibitively expensive or overly complex, our solution is inclusive and accessible, democratizing high-level training for a diverse range of learners.

By combining gamification with rigorous technical scenarios, we not only solve today's skills gap but anticipate future digital security needs. Pentest Arena provides a scalable, sustainable pathway from novice to pro, ensuring students master the critical practical skills demanded by the modern market.

Who Benefits?

Target Groups:

Learners: Students, career switchers, and beginners (focus on inclusion).

Educators & Universities: Institutions seeking to modernize curricula.

Employers: Companies needing job-ready talent.

How they benefit:

For Learners: Pentest Arena democratizes access to elite cybersecurity training. It replaces expensive hardware labs with accessible, cloud-based "battle rooms." Students gain job-ready skills safely, moving from passive theory to active mastery of real-world threats.

For Educators: We rethink the teaching process by automating complex lab setups and grading. This drastically reduces instructor workload, allowing universities to scale practical courses without infrastructure costs.

For Society & Employers: The solution directly addresses the critical global cybersecurity skills gap. It provides a pipeline of specialists with proven, hands-on experience, enhancing overall digital resilience.

Impact

Pentest Arena drives a paradigm shift in cybersecurity education, transforming students from passive learners into active "cyber-defenders." Our impact extends beyond the classroom: by producing job-ready specialists, we directly strengthen global digital resilience and reduce the vulnerability of businesses and critical infrastructure.

We utilize a multi-dimensional framework to measure this impact:

Educational Efficacy: Tracking the completion rate of complex scenarios and the reduction in "time-to-resolution" for simulated incidents (demonstrating real skill mastery).

Employability: Measuring the number of users successfully onboarded by partner companies and the reduction in corporate training time for our graduates.

Skill Progression: Real-time analytics from skill dashboards that visualize the journey from novice to pro.

Inclusion: Tracking the number of students accessing elite-level training previously restricted by high costs.

Ultimately, we close the global talent gap by making cybersecurity education accessible, practical, and effective.

Team work

Our team combined complementary skills to bring Pentest Arena to life. 

• Veronika served as a CEO, speaker, and driver, shaping the concept, defining the architecture, and leading the practical cybersecurity component to ensure real-world relevance. 
• Vadym is our full-stack developer, transforming complex technical modules into a functional, user-friendly interface, bridging the gap between backend systems and the end-user experience. 
• Mykhailo, also a full-stack engineer, was responsible for the simulation logic and implementing advanced technologies, integrating sophisticated features seamlessly into the platform. 

Together, we coordinated closely, combining technical expertise, project management, and cybersecurity knowledge to create an innovative, robust, and engaging learning environment.