On Tuesday, 30 June 2026, YuYing Mak, Project Officer at Virtual Routes, delivered the opening address of the closing ceremony of the Google.org Cybersecurity Seminars Program at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (TSNUK), Ukraine, marking the conclusion of the program’s second cohort. This graduation ceremony, held in a hybrid format, celebrated both the completion of the program and the launch of the university’s Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.
Across both cohorts, TSNUK has already trained 207 students and supported 226 local community organizations (LCOs), doubling targets set at the start of the program. The breadth of LCO engagement at TSNUK has been a consistent highlight: students engaged with schools, businesses, NGOs, and public institutions, many of which had never previously received any structured cybersecurity support. These achievements were recognised last year when TSNUK received the Brand Impact award from the IT Ukraine Association, for the most influential initiative in the country’s IT sector.
One standout example from the program was a student who wanted to conduct a penetration test for a local organization. The student’s supervisors were initially cautious about this project, given the potential risks of penetration testing for a student still developing their skills. However, at the joint request of both the student and the local community organization, the student went ahead under careful supervision. Ultimately, the project was a standout success, and the thoroughness and quality of the student’s work, supported throughout by AI tools, surprised even experienced mentors.
As the program comes to a close, the TSNUK team is planning to release a substantial body of work drawing on what has been built across two years of delivery. This includes a video playlist of program materials, a textbook covering cybersecurity basics with self-testing components, a questionnaire for cybersecurity standards compliance (with a focus on ISO 27001), and a set of mock interview resources for students entering the field. Virtual Routes looks forward to following the impact of the program’s work as it reaches students and organizations beyond the university.
