Eight teams of 12-16-year-old cyber-enthusiasts from schools across the North East joined in cyber security competition to become the young cyber security defenders in the region. The winning team was a team from Valley Gardens Middle School, pictured. They impressed a number of judges on-site from the likes of the National Crime Agency (NCA), BT and GCHQ.
The competition, hosted by the Cyber Security Challenge UK and created by industry firms and government bodies, tasked the pupils to perform a variety of tasks that cyber security professionals do, as well as lock picking, where pupils were taught the similarities between physical lock picking and unlocking files and passwords on computers, steganography to conceal messages, and code breaking. The school teams also engaged in several digital forensics challenges, designed to test their skills in evidence retrieval from digital devices suspected of criminal use. The competition also included a cyber security quiz, in the format of the TV game show ‘The Million Pound Drop’.
The tasks were designed to put contestants under time pressure, and emphasised the importance of adhering to the ethical and legal checks that law enforcement must abide by in real life investigations. IT security industry figures delivered the competitions, monitored the competitors, and earmarked potential recruits encouraging them to consider careers in cyber security.
The top three placed teams won FUZE computers for their schools, to help bolster technology skills, while the winning team received a ‘DIY Synth Kit’, which allows users to build a synthesiser to create electronic music and improve their hardware skills. The runners up won a wearable Codebug computer, which is designed to introduce programming and electronic concepts to users.
The North East Schools Final at the University of Sunderland, is part of the Cyber Security Challenge UK Schools Programme, which is backed by the Cabinet Office and provides bespoke teaching resources, designed by its sponsor consortium and partners, to help address what the authorities term the critical cyber security skills gap by sparking student interest in cyber security.
Jason Stanton, Schools Programme Manager at the Cyber Security Challenge UK said: “There is a much publicised cyber security skills gap in the UK which urgently needs addressing at ground level. We need to generate an interest in cyber security as a career early in education. We work closely with our sponsor community to foster an awareness of the core skills through practical interactive challenges which aim to teach these skills in an innovative way. What’s more is this can act as a blueprint so that these methods can be applied to any school in the country. Our aim is for the pupils to leave today feeling inspired and leaning towards a career in cyber. Offering gifted youngsters a pathway to future employment allows us to utilise the skills which are available in the UK, and also helps to prevent those youngsters drifting into cyber-crime.”
Alistair Irons, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Sunderland said: “It’s refreshing to be involved with an organisation who shares our passion for developing innovative and radically different approaches to teaching cyber security through problem based learning.”
Competition details and free teacher packs are available to schools across the country by signing up on the Challenge website: www.cybersecuritychallenge.org/education or by contacting [email protected].
