Two teams of young programmers from Frome College will next week be heading to the finals of the UK’s premier national cyber security competition for 12-18 year olds.
The teams, Tom & Co and Jake & Co have qualified for the CyberCenturion 2016 Finals, a national competition for UK students developed by government-backed Cybersecurity Challenge UK and defence giant Northrop Grumman. CyberCenturion gives teams of young coders an outlet to test their cyber security skills and encourage talent into the industry.
The Frome locals will battle against eight other teams from up and down the country in a realistic day-long competition to be crowned the best young cyber talents in the UK. The showdown will take place at The National Museum of Computing on the grounds of Bletchley Park on Tuesday 26th April.
Qualifying for the final involved three gruelling rounds, each lasting six hours, where the teams battled against the latest cyber threats similar to those facing cyber security professionals in real life.
CyberCenturion was launched in 2015 to address the critical skills shortage in cyber security that is threatening the country’s economy. The competition is often a stepping stone for cyber-savvy youngsters to the more elite competitions on offer, which are frequently used as recruiting grounds by some of the foremost UK cyber defence agencies, including GCHQ.
Both teams met at Frome College. One team, ‘Tom and Co’ are friends from Frome College, who entered into the CyberCenturion competition after discovering a passion for coding and computers at school. The team – Tom Haines, Matt Haines, Dylan Oliver, and Adam Kerslake – are the founding members of the ‘Frome College Gurus’, a group of pupils who provide tech support to the whole of Frome College, including staff and its pupils. They help solve problems for students and teachers. They also provide advice and recommendations on apps the school should be using.
The college’s second team are ‘Jake & Co’, Ranging from 14 to 18 years of age, the team is made up of Jake Malley, Charlie Sloan, Jesse Wood, Joe Malley and Will Tyler. The whole team is heavily involved in technology, both in and out of school.
Joe and Charlie have designed and developed several platform games. Charlie is also working on an enterprise project with a fellow student where he is creating a video intercom system.
Will’s interests are mostly focussed around networking and he spends a lot of time exploring networking concepts. He is interested in both the hardware and software side of network maintenance and security. Jake meanwhile is interested in web development and data visualisation – he has just entered a competition where he created a virtual tour of Victoria and Albert Museum exhibits.
Pictured, ‘Tom and Co’: (clockwise from top left) Dylan, Tom, Adam and Matt
