In an NHEHS first, we are entering three teams in the UK CyberFirst Girls Competition. Organised by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), the national competition aims to provide a fun but challenging environment to inspire the next generation of young women to consider a career in cyber security.

NHEHS will be represented by three teams from Year 8:

Team ARMY – Aanya, Rahel, Mana and Yuna

Team Cybeat -Maya, Morven, Leah and Iszy

Team Cybernetix  – Ishita, Dunya, Sofia and Shivali

The teams will be meeting regularly and will work their way through different challenges from Logic and Coding, Networking, Cyber Security and Cryptography. Each challenge is derived from skills used every day by cyber security professionals and all can be answered using techniques freely available on the Internet and the open source tool CyberChef. The challenges are separated into three levels of difficulty: beginner, intermediate and expert. Each level will have up to five challenges available at once, with more becoming unlocked as the teams progress.  Excellent teamwork will be key! 

The online qualifying round open this week, with teams striving to reach the Home Nations and English Regions Semi-Final scheduled for March 12th. The Grand Final will take place on April 26th, where the top ten teams drawn from the regions in England, and from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland will gather to compete for the title of UK CyberFirst Girls Competition Winners.

Good luck to all three teams!