This Monday saw our teams once again battling against cyber criminals in the CyberCenturion competition. Each Abbey team was given two virtual computer systems that had been hacked. Over the next four hours the team was required to remove all traces of the hackers and secure the computers so that they could not be infiltrated again.

Twelve students, from Lower V to Upper VI, represented the School in the event in 3 teams of four. We are so pleased with their performance, with provisional scores showing that they came 18th, 19th and 21st in the country in this round. 

Miss Mogio, who runs the Cybersecurity enrichment programme, was extremely pleased with their performance, saying “I am so terribly proud of how well the girls did. They have all worked so hard, learning different operating systems [the girls are required to know how to use Linux as well as Windows machines] and how to protect them, whilst still studying all their GCSE / A Level / IB subjects. They are amazing!”

Mr Bradley, Head of Computer Science at the Senior School, went on; “Cybersecurity holds such a vital place in today’s society. Keeping individuals, companies and indeed the country safe is an immensely important role and I am pleased that we can give our students the knowledge and skills to follow these lucrative careers if they choose. Having these skills, however, will help keep our students and their colleagues safe whatever career path they follow.”

Unfortunately these results were not enough to take any of the teams onto the National Finals but the experience gained, especially for our Fifth Form students, will mean that next year we will hopefully be able to enter more teams and have a greater chance of making the Finals. 

The CyberCenturion competition is based upon the US CyberPatriot competition run by the American Air Force Association and Northrop Grumman. In the UK the competition is run by STEM Learning supported by Northrop Grumman.