Profiles of the organizers

Full Name:	Mike Yemane
Title / Role in the Event:	Organizer and Challenge Designer
Brief Bio:	I was born and raised in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and emigrated to the US when I was 12 years old. When I’m not glued to my computer screen, I enjoy spending time with family, friends, the outdoors and exercising.
Cybersecurity Background:	With 15 years in the cybersecurity field, I’ve held roles in the US state and federal sectors, the private sector, and the DoD as a contractor. I’ve honed my skills from penetration testing, incident response and security policy development to managing comprehensive security strategies and security engineering. My diverse experiences across these sectors have enriched my understanding of cybersecurity, providing me with a unique and comprehensive perspective on handling cyber threats.
Why you are excited about this event:	I am absolutely thrilled about this CTF event, as it will be my first opportunity to participate in a CTF, actually any IT-related event, in Ethiopia. This unique chance to contribute to the cybersecurity landscape of my homeland fills me with great anticipation and pride.
Fun Fact:	Growing up in Addis Ababa, our family dog nursed the kittens of our cat!

Full Name:	Henock Negash
Title / Role in the Event:	Organizer and Challenge Designer
Brief Bio:	Born and raised in Addis Ababa. Interested in Cybersecurity from an early age. Founder and community lead of Yekolo Temari https://yekolotemari.com.
Cybersecurity Background:	Cybersecurity has always has been an interest of mine and I have been studying and practicing on my free time for as long as I can remember. And recently I have founded a cybersecurity community called Yekolo Temari and we have been organizing and hosting CTF competitions and webinars to raise the cybersecurity culture in the county.
Why you are excited about this event:	As a cybersecurity enthusiast I am always excited to be in a gathering of like-minded people to share ideas and knowledge. I am also happy to see more and more people coming to this kind of events keep growing every time.

Full Name:	Adeladay Meresa
Title / Role in the Event:	Organizer and Challenge Designer
Brief Bio:	Born and raised in Humera, Interested in Hacking from University Life since 2013 GC . I am so Passionate in cybersecurity filed specially on Social engineering and Machine hacking.
Cybersecurity Background:	I have more than 5 years’ experience on IT and half a year on Cybersecurity. I am working now as Senior Officer – IT Security & Awareness.  On daily bases I do application pen testing, auditing as well as doing CTF and Hosting one with our community Yekolo temari.
Why you are excited about this event:	I love listening to story of Hacking and learn from the stories. I am so excited to see many people on this event share the practical hacking skills on different category of challenges.

Full Name:	Dagim Tesfaye
Title / Role in the Event:	CTF writer(web)
Brief Bio:	A computer science student who’s desperate to learn anything related to technology and mainly focusing on web app pen testing and problem-solving skills by learning data structure and algorithm.
Cybersecurity Background:	In my cybersecurity journey I have mainly touched some parts like ethical hacking… etc and mainly focusing on web-app pen testing and in this journey i made some personal projects related to automations, host CTF’s,…etc
Why you are excited about this event:	The main reason is making this community engaging in the cyber security and also learning other new things from others is the main reason I’m excited about it.
Fun Fact:	I actually can solve a Rubik’s cube in a minute 🙂

Full Name:	The Plague
Title / Role in the Event:	Organize/ Challenge Creator
Brief Bio:	Born and raised in the vibrant city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I now find myself based in the US. Other than cybersecurity, I have a deep passion for cinema, art and music.
Cybersecurity Background:	I hold a BS in Cybersecurity Engineering, and I’ve earned certifications in Sec+, BTL1, and eJPT. I’ve also had the privilege of working at Amazon as a Security Engineer Intern.
Why you are excited about this event:	I enjoy the rush that comes with cybersecurity Capture The Flag (CTF) events. It’s not just about the competition but the learning, networking, and skill showing opportunities these events provide.  I’m genuinely excited to see what innovative strategies and solutions participants will present at this event.

Full Name:	Eliezer Binyam
Title / Role in the Event:	Head of CTF challenges @ Yekolo Temari
Brief Bio:	Hacker of things, a tech geek, Gamer 🎮and interested in photography & cinematography.
Cybersecurity Background:	I have always been curious and eager to learn more about computers and technology. I grew up with computers from a young age, which led me to programming and understanding computer architecture and organization. I became fascinated by how things work internally and how to exploit their flaws. I started as a script kiddie (good old days of creating Metasploit reverse meterpreter for android lol) and then progressed to creating small tools, understanding exploits, and emulating and creating attacks and vulnerabilities like a mad scientist. I don’t have any formal cybersecurity background, but I consider it more than a hobby. It is something I actively pursue and want to make a career out of it. I am currently interested in the world of binary, malware, networking ,android. One of my hobbies is creating labs with GNS to simulate networks and test different types of attacks and defenses. I also like to set up binary-based environments to learn how things work from the lowest level. Some of the books that I found useful for this are The Hacker Playbook by Peter Kim, Black Hat Python by Seitz Arnold, and CCNA Guidebook.
Why you are excited about this event:	I am looking forward to meeting CTF nerds and learning from their unique ways of solving challenges. I think it is a great opportunity to see different perspectives from the creators and the players of the challenges. From my previous experiences, I enjoyed getting to know the players and their backgrounds and things they work on. I also appreciate that there is a space for this field and people with talent. I really enjoy working with and having like-minded people to share ideas with. It enriches my knowledge and network among people. Another thing that excites me is when the energy shifts from us being anxious about creating the challenges to them working hard to solve them throughout the two days. It is as if the CTF players have to adopt to the mindset of the initial creators of the challenges.
Fun Fact:	If you are interested in photography and cinematography, mention it when we meet up. I would love to hear your thoughts, challenges, and ideas regarding the world of photography. I can also share my works with you. “To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human” – Mouse from The Matrix