The winners of this 12 months’s CyberFirst Women competitors had been formally named yesterday after a record-breaking contest.
The Nationwide Cyber Safety Centre (NCSC) topped Birmingham’s Hillcrest Faculty and Sixth Type Centre “Prime Scoring State Newcomer” at a ceremony at Jodrell Financial institution on the weekend, awarding the college a £4000 ($5171) prize.
North London’s Henrietta Barnett Faculty was named “Prime Scoring Crew.”
The occasion additionally noticed 13 regional winners and particular award winners handed prizes. It was held on Saturday to coincide with Worldwide Girls’s Day.
Nonetheless, the true winners could be the employers of tomorrow, given the competitors’s acknowledged purpose of inspiring extra ladies to pursue cyber and expertise of their schooling and future careers.
A document variety of ladies (14,500) and groups (4159) took half on this 12 months’s competitors, which concluded in December.
Read more on CyberFirst: Thirteen Teams Win UK’s CyberFirst Girls Competition
“I’d like to increase my gratitude to the academics who’ve inspired and impressed their college students to participate within the competitors, to our sponsors whose assist makes this occasion doable, and to the women who demonstrated admirable abilities, dedication, and teamwork,” mentioned NCSC deputy director for cyber progress, Chris Ensor.
“It appears apt on Worldwide Girls’s Day to level out the UK’s cybersecurity business wants extra feminine illustration, and I hope for lots of the ladies this marks the start of their curiosity in expertise.”
Since its launch in 2017 round 85,000 ladies have apparently taken half within the NCSC’s flagship contest for faculties. It’s open yearly to women in 12 months 8 in England and Wales, S2 in Scotland and 12 months 9 in Northern Eire.
Opponents participate in a collection of cybersecurity challenges, together with decrypting messages, cracking code and fixing coding puzzles – with 12 regional finals and an extra class for impartial faculties.
The NCSC claims that girls at the moment make up simply 17% of the cyber workforce, a quantity that should enhance if the business is to beat main abilities shortages and variety challenges.
The UK’s estimated cyber workforce gap rose 27% yearly to over 93,000 unfilled positions final 12 months, in response to ISC2. That’s way over the worldwide enhance of 19% from the earlier 12 months.
