Cisco Cyber Games Americas 2026

This spring, Philotimo LLC had the privilege of hosting the Cisco CyberGames Americas 2026 — Ethical Hacker Edition, a region-wide cybersecurity event for the Cisco Networking Academy community across the United States, Canada, Latin America, and the Caribbean. The Ethical Hacker course at the heart of the games was taught by our team at Philotimo LLC.

What the Cyber Games Are

The Cisco Cyber Games Americas is a free, gamified “learn-a-thon” built around Cisco’s NetAcad Ethical Hacker course. The goal is to grow real cybersecurity talent across the Americas by pairing rigorous, hands-on coursework with friendly competition — advancing student skills, empowering instructors, and creating a clear path toward the Cisco Certificate in Ethical Hacking. The 2026 edition ran in two phases: a multi-week learning Marathon, followed by a live Capture the Flag challenge.

Phase 1: The Marathon

The Marathon ran from March 23 through June 14, 2026, and centered on the 70-hour Ethical Hacker course. Rather than teaching from theory alone, the course drops students into an engaging, gamified storyline backed by hands-on labs modeled on real-world scenarios. Students learn to think like an attacker and practice the core work of offensive security: scoping, executing, and reporting vulnerability assessments, then recommending strategies to fix the weaknesses they uncover.

It was free to join and pitched at the intermediate level, building on entry-level cybersecurity knowledge. Students who completed the course and passed the Ethical Hacker exam with 70% or higher earned an official Cisco digital badge, plus a Cisco Learn-A-Thon experience badge they can share on LinkedIn, résumés, and college applications.

Phase 2: Capture the Flag

The second phase raised the stakes with a live Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, open to students who finished the Ethical Hacker course with a score of 70% or above during the Marathon. The CTF was a fast-paced, three-hour test of applied skill, with registration capped at the first 1,500 eligible students — a chance for learners to put everything they had practiced to work under real pressure.

Why It Mattered

Beyond the badges and the competition, the CyberGames were built to do something bigger: develop practical, job-ready cybersecurity skills through genuine lab work, strengthen the NetAcad community, and keep both students and instructors moving forward. Participants were encouraged to continue their journey afterward with the CyberOps Associate and Network Security courses as natural next steps.

Philotimo’s Role

We’re proud that Philotimo LLC hosted the Cisco CyberGames Americas 2026, and that our team delivered the Ethical Hacker course that anchored the entire experience. Guiding students through the fundamentals of offensive security — and then watching them put those skills to the test in the Capture the Flag challenge — is exactly the kind of hands-on, instructor-led learning we exist to support. “Empowering Cisco Instructors for Success” isn’t just our tagline; events like this are that mission in action.