Thirty key stage three students took part in an online cyber security competition called the Cyber Explorers Cup in March. Six teams – each consisting of five players – were up against teams from across the UK competing for a place in the final.
The Cyber Explorers Cup is an online cyber security competition that takes place every year.
This year’s challenge involved the students entering a virtual world known as Cyber City and working as a team to complete a variety of cyber challenges to resolve issues caused by a newly installed AI system that has become corrupt.
The challenge tested the students’ ability to use their problem-solving and teamwork skills as well as their resilience to progress through as many ‘Capture the Flag’-like challenges as they could to receive points in their one-hour timeslot.
The Cyber Explorers Cup is designed to educate students in the world of cyber security, developing skills that will benefit them now and in the future.
In computer security, Capture the Flag (CTF) is an exercise in which participants attempt to find text strings, called ‘flags’, which are secretly hidden in purposefully vulnerable programs or websites.
The winners will be announced on 1 April. Winning teams from each UK nation will receive tech vouchers worth £2,000 for their school to purchase IT equipment. They will also receive an exclusive Cyber Explorers assembly delivered at their school, introducing whole year groups to cyber security essentials.
