Students take part in cyber-attack challenge

Students from Perth College UHI outlined how the nation should respond if threatened by a major cyber-attack.

Joined by classmates from UHI West Highland, they worked together to draft policy recommendations in response to a crisis.

The Computing and Business students took part in ‘The Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge’, a unique annual competition where students from across the globe compete in developing policy recommendations tackling a fictional cyber catastrophe. During the competition the Perth College UHI team won the ‘Best Teamwork’ award.

Ian Turnbull, Computing lecturer explained: “This gave our students a unique opportunity to interact with expert mentors and high-level cyber professionals.” Charles McCrimmon, a lecturer in Computing and Cyber Security at UHI West Highland added: “They worked as a team to gain a deeper understanding of the policy and strategy challenges faced during a cyber crisis.”

Students Callum, William and Olivia said:
“The cyber competition was an exceptional experience for me and others. We have learned a lot from taking part in the competition, and even networked with professionals within the cyber security sector. It has been an entertaining competition and has boosted my confidence for future events and in terms of socialising with peers.”

“Really fun all-round great experience providing lots of future opportunities”

“Cyber 9/12 was an amazing opportunity to learn more about cyber security and interact with experts in the field, a highly beneficial and enjoyable experience, something which has given me a lot to consider for my future.”

The students were funded to attend with support from Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SICSA) Education and the Dundee event was held in partnership with Dewar Cyber Consulting Ltd (DCC Ltd), the Scottish Government, Palo Alto Networks, Google and Abertay University.