Cyber-Savvy Girls Break New Ground

Four students from St. Catherine’s College, Armagh have been recognised for their outstanding cyber skills achievements at BuckinghamPalace after reaching the final of a nationwide codebreaking challenge. The 2018 CyberFirstGirls Competition saw girls aged12-13 test their sleuthing skills and technological mettle against a series of head-scratching challenges set by masterminds from the National Cyber SecurityCentre (NCSC), a part of GCHQ.The Armagh team known as‘The Furious Four’ had previously seen off over 1,200 other teams before making it as the only NI team in the grand final of 10teams held in Manchester.

The surprise invitation from The Duke of York to BuckinghamPalace recognised the tremendous efforts of the 10 finalist teams.The challenges at the grand final tested the girls’ problem-solving and technological skills as they tracked down a cybercriminal to help decrypt the files of a vlogging ransomware victim, and find hidden clues in the room for points.

Later, the teams pitched their findings to a panel featuringBBC broadcast journalist StephMcGovern, Chris Ensor, NCSCDeputy Director for Cyber Skills andGrowth, and Nicky Hudson, NCSCDirector for Communications.Speaking about getting involved in the competition,Head teacher of ICT at StCatherine’s College, Armagh, Caroline Pereira-Lynch said: “Our school ethos is about opening up all opportunities for girls and this competition gave us a unique and practical insight into the cyber security industry and helped us learn more about it. We were delighted to make it to the finals as the girls were so eager and worked incredibly hard.To be the top NI school and get a special invitation to BuckinghamPalace has given the girls a great sense of achievement.”

Now in its second year, 4,500girls entered this year’s CyberFirstGirls competition, which aims to knock down some of the barriers that have resulted in women being so worryingly under-represented in cyber security, where only one in ten of the workforce is female.

Local cyber security company, Cyphra has been working closely with NCSC to get more schools and young people fromNI involved in the CyberFirst competitions. Speaking about this year’s participation, Director Conrad Simpson said: “The CyberFirst competitions are an important step in giving students an insight into this exciting dynamic industry sector which currently has a skills shortage and can offer a very interesting career pathway. Cyphra are committed to identifying, nurturing and helping start careers in cybersecurity. The girls fromSt Catherine’s College, Armagh along with all the other schools who entered the competition are trailblazers and I’ve no doubt we will see some of them lead the way as future cyberists. It also shows the value of growing future talent and diversity in the cyber sector.”

The competition has seen ahighly positive take up on itsreturn, with a 52% rise in thenumber of schools who registeredteams to compete this year.

The ‘Furious Four’ finalists from St Catherine’s College, Armagh receive the ‘Top NI school award’ from Conrad Simpson, Director of Cyphra.

Recognising the achievements of the ‘Furious Four’, Dr Irene Bell,Chair of Computing at SchoolsNI (CAS NI) attended a school assembly with Conrad Simpson, Cyphra and presented the pupils with the CyberFirst ‘Top NI GirlsTeam’ trophy. Speaking she said: “What you achieved has helped put the next generation of NI cyber and computing talent on the map. You are great ambassadors not only for your school and other girls but for raising the importance of computing and STEM led subjects for everyone”.

The girls also received individual sponsored prizes from Cyphra at the assembly. The overall UK winners ofCyberFirst 2018 were the Church of England Piggott School in Berkshire who received £1,000 towards their school’s IT equipment.

NCSC have recently published the dates for their CyberFirst free summer courses. Anyone interested in more information on these should contact info@cyberistsni.com or visit the NCSC website.