About the Sentinel Programme

Learn what the Sentinel Programme is about.

Last updated 8 January 2026

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What Is the Sentinel Programme?

The Sentinel Programme is a talent development programme to equip youths with cybersecurity and digital skills. The Programme is organised by the Digital and Intelligence Service (DIS), in collaboration with the Defence Technology Community and is fully sponsored by MINDEF/SAF.

Programme Structure

Students collaborating on laptops in a classroom setting, focused on tasks.

Secondary

The programme will build foundational skills in computing and cybersecurity. Lower Secondary students will attend 3-day workshops during the school holidays.

Upper Secondary students will deepen their skill sets through holiday workshops and classes on Saturdays. Students will also have opportunities to visit our defence agencies.

Upon graduation from Secondary school, interested students will be invited to continue with the post-secondary programme.

Post-Secondary

The programme will deepen students' cybersecurity knowledge in real-world applications. They will attend 3-day workshops during school holidays, as well as classes on Saturdays.

Students will also have opportunities to visit and intern at our defence agencies and be mentored by cybersecurity professionals.

2026 Schedule For The Sentinel Programme

The Sentinel Journey

Participants of the programme can expect to:

Achieve

Become more proficient and hone your skills further through competitions organised by the programme and MINDEF/SAF agencies.

Build

Meet like-minded individuals from other schools and build strong, long-lasting relationships.

Learn

Dive into cybersecurity and learn essential skills like coding and network forensics.

Experience

See what life as a cyber or tech professional is like first-hand through visits, internships and mentorships with MINDEF/SAF agencies.

Find out more about the Sentinel Journey through the video below

What Participants Will Learn

A mentor guiding students as they work together on laptops in a bright room.

Examples of topics that participants will learn are shown in the table below.

Student Cohort	Examples of Topics	Capstone Projects
Lower Secondary	Introduction to Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Introduction to Cybersecurity Web Application Development and Security (Javascript and HTML) Network Forensics Server-side Programming	Developing a password-protected image safe Detecting spam and phishing attacks Developing a user authentication and attack detection application
Upper Secondary	Front-end Web Development with React Web Application and Database Security Cybersecurity Ethics and Network Penetration Testing AI in Security and Large Language Models	Developing a multi-page web application Protecting and exploiting network protocols Building a Chatbot
Junior College/ Polytechnic/ ITE	Python Programming Network and Cloud Security Network Application Programming and Network Security Products AI Applications in Cybersecurity	Developing web crawlers Developing and breaking into Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) multiplayer games Developing Intrusion Detection Systems with AI applications

Student Cohort

Examples of Topics

Capstone Projects

Lower Secondary

Introduction to Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Introduction to Cybersecurity
Web Application Development and Security (Javascript and HTML)
Network Forensics
Server-side Programming

Developing a password-protected image safe
Detecting spam and phishing attacks
Developing a user authentication and attack detection application

Upper Secondary

Front-end Web Development with React
Web Application and Database Security
Cybersecurity Ethics and Network Penetration Testing
AI in Security and Large Language Models

Developing a multi-page web application
Protecting and exploiting network protocols
Building a Chatbot

Junior College/ Polytechnic/ ITE

Python Programming
Network and Cloud Security
Network Application Programming and Network Security Products
AI Applications in Cybersecurity

Developing web crawlers
Developing and breaking into Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) multiplayer games
Developing Intrusion Detection Systems with AI applications

Continue exploring

Check out our latest events or the commonly asked questions about the Sentinel Programme.

Latest Events FAQs

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