Cyber Security Challenge returns
By David Howells
03/06/2011
A national competition is underway to find the UKs most competent cyber-security guards.
The Cyber Security Challenge - now in its second year - sees individuals from all over the UK complete a series of tasks to see how well they can defend a computer network. The tasks include thwarting hack attacks, defending networks and tracking down cyber criminals both online and in face-to-face environments.
The competition was set up in order to raise awareness of the threat of cyber security and try to encourage people to take up the profession, creating secure and comprehensive IT management software.
Entries for the competition are now open and the challenges will take place over the coming year.
Head of the competition Jay Abbott told zdnet.co.uk of why it is back for a second run. "Last year's challenge was a great success," he said, "and we learnt a great deal from our first batch of candidates."
"By feeding that back into our competition structure and design, this year's challenge is going to be bigger and a more comprehensive test that truly showcases the array of experiences encountered in a professional cyber security environment."
James Lyne, director of strategy at Sophos, the company sponsoring the challenge told itpro.co.uk, "Last year was a huge success in terms of identifying new talent and also introducing careers in the security industry as a real option to many people who had perhaps previously not considered it or thought they were not 'good enough.'"
