London is set to see its first UK National Cyber Policy and Strategy competition launch later this month, hosted by the Government, industry experts and academic support.
The competition is being launched by Atlantic Council, in conjunction with industry sponsors and academic partners. There will be a two-day event to hold the competition at the BT Tower over the 26th and 27th February.
By holding the competition, it aims to seek out the best of the cybersecurity future talent and transform the way the UK looks at cybersecurity skills, by encouraging diversity and leveraging non-traditional skills sets. The competition will be among 15 multi-disciplinary teams from various universities across the UK in a Cyber 9/12 competition format.
Pete Cooper, Director and Atlantic Council Fellow, added: “There is a vital requirement to develop and identify the cybersecurity talent of the future. But the cybersecurity challenge we face is not just technical, it straddles all disciplines and sectors.
“Solutions cannot be found in technology alone and they cannot be solved by policy and strategy alone. Therefore, we have to find cyber policy and strategy expertise as well as technical expertise and reinforce the value of teamwork between them.”
The competition will draw upon various skill sets of teams and individuals as they are presented with a variety of realistic scenarios of an escalating cyber-attack against the UK, using the Cyber 9/12 competition format.
Each scenario will be made up of either a news, technical or intelligence report. Teams will then have to present technical and policy and strategy options to point government decision-makers in the right direction to provide a successful solution to the problem.
The individual teams must use their joint understanding of the problem to develop potential solutions. They will then report back to a judging panel, via a verbal presentation, which will question the solutions and teams will then be scored accordingly.
– What can technology teach education?
– £20m cybersecurity education programme
– Cisco looks to education for cybersecurity experts
The fifteen teams will then be scored and narrowed down to three, which will go head-to-head to compete for the £2,000 grand prize.
Margot James, Minister for digital and Creative Industries, said: “It is great to see students from across the UK taking part in this challenging competition which could identify the cybersecurity talent of the future.
“We’re working hard to make the UK the safest place in the world to be online and this new initiative will complement our National Cyber Security Strategy to strengthen the talent pipeline and deliver a more diverse workforce.”
