Four teams of Year 8 girls spent their lunchtimes and some time at home competing in the CyberFirst Girls Competition between 13th January and 22nd January. This competition is run by the National Cyber Security Centre (part of GCHQ) and requires the teams to take on a series of online puzzles and challenges. The tasks are designed to help students learn about cyber security and the skills needed to defend our digital world.
Although none of our teams managed to progress beyond the first round of the competition, Julia Lach was inspired to continue her CyberFirst journey by applying for a place on one of the CyberFirst Girls Development Days in Manchester. This free day is designed to recreate the excitement from the competition, increase understanding of the different specialisms within Cyber Security and equip participants with some valuable practical skills. If her application is accepted, she is expecting to find out about Digital Forensics, Cryptography, Ethical Hacking and Open source intelligence. She will then become a valuable source of information and support for the current Year 7 girls that may like to enter the competition next year.
The team members were:
Julia Lach, Natalie Jones, Oliwia Szczepanowska, Lily Wigglesworth,
Alisha Bedford, Chelsea DeGbalou, Mayokun Omidele, Tatiana Otremba, Helen Estifanos, Dominika Szymanska, Marian Nkonyeasua, Medhin Medhane, Robyn Thompson, Sophie Lewis and Ema Manusyte.