Students compete in Cyber Security WorldSkills UK National Final

Brandon Shirley and Josh Cooke, two Cyber Security and Networking students from Burton and South Derbyshire College, are set to battle it out in the national final of the WorldSkills Cyber Security competition on the 16th and 17th November at Middlesbrough College.

Since gaining their place for the final in the qualifiers, the students have been busy honing their skills, including taking part in a prestigious Ethical Hacking training programme with the National Cyber Security Academy at the University of South Wales, in partnership with the EC-Council. During the training bootcamp, Josh Cooke also had the opportunity to present, delivering an impromptu session about wireless hacking after discovering he had knowledge he could pass on to other members of the group.

WorldSkills supports young people across the world via competition-based training, assessment and benchmarking, with members’ national teams ultimately testing their ability to achieve world-class standards in the biennial ‘Skills Olympics’. The WorldSkills Cyber Security competition focuses on all the essential requirements for a successful career as a Cyber Security Analyst within any industry. It is designed to test competitors’ abilities in reconnaissance, scanning, vulnerability testing and exploitation of systems.

Speaking about the competition, Brandon Shirley said: “Taking part in competitions pushes you to learn more and become better at what you do. I chose to study networking and cyber security because I was interested in both the networking and ethical hacking side of things. There are so many different job opportunities to go into in the networking and cyber security industry.”

Fellow competitor, Josh Cooke said: “Competitions like this really test your skills. I have been interested in cyber security for the last few years. I find it really interesting and I would particularly like a career in red teaming, a cyber security exercise that simulates a real-life attack to help measure how well organisations are prepared. Cyber security is a good industry to go into as these types of skills are in demand and there are a range of careers to go into, from ethical hacking to digital forensics.”

Cyber Security skills are in demand in a variety of industries, and Burton and South Derbyshire College offers Networking and Cyber Security courses, as well as being a member of the EC-Council (International Council of E-Commerce Consultants), a Cisco Networking Academy and a Huawei ICT Academy. Additionally, the College is set to launch a Cyber Security Lab with Stronger Towns funding that will include dedicated forensics and biometrics labs that are a natural addition to existing networking and software development. External specialists and patrons from the security services and industry are involved in the set-up of the new facilities to ensure they meet industry requirements.

Jacqui Maw, Curriculum Team Leader of Computing and Emerging Technologies said: “We’re absolutely thrilled the students have made it to the national final of the competition. They are both very gifted learners and will have fantastic careers ahead of them in this sought-after industry. WorldSkills rewards excellence in technical skills and this experience will be great for their personal development and future employment opportunities.”