The AWSN Incident Response Competition 2025 wrapped up in December, marking a major milestone for AWSN as the fifth delivery of the competition and the largest and most successful to date.
The 2025 competition brought together participants from across Australia to work through a week-long, realistic cyber incident scenario, testing both technical and non-technical incident response skills. Teams collaborated under pressure to analyse forensic artefacts, identify Indicators of Compromise, understand adversary tactics and techniques, and manage the broader response context, including executive communications, media considerations, and legal and privacy impacts.
This year’s competition saw record participation and engagement, reflecting the growing appetite for hands-on, practical learning opportunities in incident response. The standard of submissions was exceptionally high, with teams demonstrating strong analytical capability, teamwork, and professional judgement throughout the exercise. The competition concluded with a hybrid online and in-person closing ceremony, where the winning teams were announced and recognised.
2025 Incident Response Competition Winners
1st Place – Team 65
Emma Bishop · Keerthi M Ayalasomayajula · Jacinta Hayward · Jossaline Tanasaldy · Michelle Welch
2nd Place – Team 23
Samira Falahazandehi · Shoshanna Rudov-Clark · Nataliia Shtamburg · Emily Moore · Anita Jalan
3rd Place – Team 14
Kayleen Sto Domingo · Dieu Phuong Lan Luc · Harpreet Kaur Dhindsa · Melissa Hennessy
AWSN extends its sincere thanks to the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) as the program sponsor, whose continued support has been instrumental in the growth and success of the competition. AWSN also thanks Retrospect Labs, the delivery partner, for designing and delivering the incident response exercise each year.
AWSN further acknowledges all prize donors, including ASD and industry partners SANS Institute, Lumify Group, the Cyber Leadership Institute, and Lynn Moore, whose generosity provided valuable learning and mentoring opportunities for participants.
The continued growth of the AWSN Incident Response Competition demonstrates the value of creating accessible, inclusive, and practical pathways for women to build confidence and capability in cyber security. With five successful competitions delivered and momentum continuing to build, AWSN looks forward to delivering an even bigger event in the years ahead.