The idea was simple: organize competitions to showcase manual and technical trades, attract young people and raise the standard of training. What began as an event between a few European countries has become a global movement. Today, the organization brings together more than 80 member countries and regions and reaches two-thirds of the world’s population.
In France, it is known as the WorldSkills Competition (or “Olympiades des métiers”). The path is progressive and structured. You start with regional selections, then aim for the national final (the latest took place in Marseille in October 2025, with around 800 competitors in nearly 70 trades), before potentially joining the French team for the world championship or EuroSkills. Participation is free. Transport, accommodation and meals are covered by the Regions up to the national stage, then by WorldSkills France.
The goal is not only to win medals. It is also to show young people that there are paths to excellence outside purely academic routes, and to give companies and trainers concrete, world-class benchmarks.
Cybersecurity: red team, blue team and maximum pressure
Cybersecurity is officially WorldSkills trade no. 54. Competitors generally work in pairs. The tests reproduce real corporate situations and often take place without Internet access, to force autonomy, technical mastery and the ability to work under stress.
According to French and international frameworks, there are typically four main modules spread over several days:
- Infrastructure deployment and hardening: pairs must set up and harden Windows and Linux servers, configure firewalls, VPN tunnels, services and directories following vendor best practices. There is no room for improvisation: you have to apply concrete security standards.
- Capture the Flag (CTF) / Red Team: this is the most “hacking” part. System enumeration, web attacks (XSS, SQL injections, logic flaws, OWASP vulnerabilities), database attacks, privilege escalation on Windows and Linux, cryptography and steganography. Competitors must find flags while documenting their actions.
- Incident response, forensics and application security: after a simulated compromise, you have to investigate. Analyze the attackers’ methods, rebuild a timeline, identify malware, clean up systems and propose fixes. One part also covers code review: finding the vulnerable sections, explaining the flaws and proposing remediations.
- Cyberdefense (Blue Team): detecting and blocking attacks using SIEM, NGFW (next-generation firewalls) and traffic analysis. Pairs must react in real time to generated attack scenarios.
So it covers pentesting, forensics, defense and hardening. This is not a “fun” weekend CTF between friends. It is a timed event, scored on professional criteria, with scenarios close to the real world and demanding reporting requirements (technical reports, timelines, recommendations).
The theoretical knowledge expected revolves around certifications such as CEH, OSCP, Security+, CCNA Security or equivalents, plus scripting skills (Python, Bash, PowerShell) and secure coding (PHP, JavaScript, Python, etc.).
The French journey: from Marseille to Shanghai
In October 2025, at the Parc Chanot in Marseille, the duo Mahel Brossier and Rayan Bouyaiche (Île-de-France) won national gold in cybersecurity. Trained notably at École 2600 and at Quarkslab, they went on to represent France in Shanghai in September 2026. They finished 6th with a Medallion for Excellence (721 points).
Mahel Brossier, originally from Jaunay-Marigny, describes a demanding competition in which the mental side played a key role. After a difficult first day in which he struggled to get into the test, the pair managed to climb back thanks to the complementarity of their skills. Beyond the ranking, what he remembers most is the intensity, the encounters and having lived “a pure one-shot”. Their journey shows that you can come from a classic initial training path (a work-study BTS in IT services for organizations, then a specialized school) and aim for world level with intensive preparation, performance training camps and real teamwork.
Other young people take the same path. Master’s students and apprentices describe tests on the Root-Me platform, whole days of reconnaissance, exploitation and forensics, and the importance of training in pairs with timed simulations.
How to prepare and take part
Registration is done through the WorldSkills France platform. You must be under 23 at the time of the next world competition (some disciplines, including cybersecurity, accept competitors up to 26). You sign up for the regional selections of the region where you live, study or work. There is also a “Parcours +” track for people with disabilities, with no age limit.
Preparation takes time. Top-performing competitors talk about regular training on CTF platforms, code review, forensic scenarios and teamwork in pairs. National experts and centers of excellence support those who level up. It is not reserved for already very advanced profiles: many start with the regional selections to improve.
Why it matters beyond the medals
Demand for cybersecurity professionals is huge, and it keeps growing. WorldSkills offers a structured framework to progress very quickly, measure yourself against the best, get noticed by companies and showcase a profession that is sometimes poorly understood by the general public. It is also an excellent lever for career guidance and motivation for young people who enjoy technical challenges more than purely theoretical paths.
In a world where attacks are multiplying and companies lack skills, this kind of competition shows concretely what “being good” at cybersecurity means: not just breaking systems, but also securing them, investigating, documenting and working as a team under pressure.
WorldSkills is not “the world championship of hacking” in the strict sense; it is the world championship of trades. But in its cybersecurity discipline, it is indeed one of the most demanding and most realistic competitions for ethical hacking. If you are the right age, love breaking systems to better protect them and want to measure yourself against the best, the next regional selections are open. The level rises fast. You might as well start early.
