The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) in 2016 as part of the government’s strategy to nurture the UK’s cyber security capability which includes the development of the next generation of cyber professionals.
In 2017, the NCSC launched the CyberFirst Girls’ Competition to promote the uptake of girls in STEM subjects in education. Over 24,000 girls have taken part so far from up and down the UK, and every year, NCSC train more and more of their young participants in the skills they need to defend our digital world through CyberFirst, which is a series of free and short cyber courses aimed at ages 11-17 year olds right across the country. 98% of the girls who took part last year said they would now like to learn more about cyber security!
Registration for the CyberFirst Girls Competition 2020 opens on Monday 2 December 2019. Free to enter, the competition looks for 12-13 year old girls (Year 8) to form teams, in order to take on an online round of puzzles and challenges, all related to the world of cyber security. They don’t need to know anything about the field yet though: they’ll learn it all along the way. The highest scoring teams then go through to the semi-finals, taking place on 8 February 2020 in locations across the UK. The grand final event takes place on 15-16 March 2020, where they’ll compete in a simulated real-world cyber incident.
Commenting, Sir Oliver Heald said: “I welcome the NCSC CyberFirst Girls’ Competition. It is vital to ensure girls and young women realise their potential in science and cyber security growth sectors and I am sure this competition will help.”
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You can get in touch to find out more and discuss further with: the Parliamentary team (NCSCParliament@ncsc.gov.uk) or the CyberFirst team (cfstakeholders@ncsc.gov.uk).