Teaching the cyber professionals of tomorrow: iCSS hosts NCSC CyberFirst event for local schools

The Institute for Cyber Security in Society (iCSS) aims to get young people more engaged with cyber security while at school, leading to a more cyber-aware population, able to protect themselves against online threats. Part of their work involves working with local schools to make cyber security a more accessible topic.

On 28th February 2023, iCSS hosted two CyberFirst sessions, one Trailblazers session and one Adventurers session. CyberFirst activities are designed by the NCSC (National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ) to inspire and encourage students from all backgrounds to consider a career in cyber security. The Trailblazers and Adventurers sessions are intended to get students thinking about how Cyber Security, and more broadly, Computer Science can play a key role in future career prospects, and help them to start to consider what GCSEs they will choose. Over70 pupils from our four local schools joined us for the day and learned more about cyber security. More details about the two CyberFirst sessions are given below.

Trailblazers

CyberFirst Trailblazers is a free half day event for Year 8 pupils, which includes:

• Go Create – Learn the basics of how to customise a website and generate enthusiasm to contribute to the World Wide Web.
• Digital Detective – Use digital forensics to identify the first person who has contracted a disease and learn how open source intelligence can lead to finding out more information about this person.
• Creative Computing – Look into how creative design, arts and technology work together. Take a closer view on how the media industry and advertising combine these elements while having the chance in teams to create your own advert sequence using stop motion.

Adventurers

CyberFirst Adventurers is a free half day event created for Year 9 pupils, which includes:

• The Data Games – Understand and use big data to create the perfect team using a set of sports results, compare with others and learn the interpretation of data.
• Crack the Code – Against the clock work within teams to unlock various devices, get a taste of cryptography, language analysis and understand some cyber security terms.
• Engineering – 3D printers have started to revolutionise the engineering industry, have a look into how technology and engineering fit together and move into the future in partnership. Have the chance to create a model using 3D design software.

Peter, one pupil who participated in the Trailblazers session, said, 'I really enjoyed tracking patient zero [part of Digital Detective], and it really opened my eyes to how unsafe our information on the internet.'

The event was delivered by QA Ltd on behalf of the NCSC.