GCHQ at the Cyber Security Challenge ‘Cyber Camp’

3 Sep 2014 04:20 PM
GCHQ representatives were at the Defence Academy at Shrivenham on 29 August to support the Cyber Security Challenge’s latest event,Cyber Camp.

After two days of training, camp participants took part in a GCHQ game where they took on the role of a cyber-team battling to overcome the threat of a fictitious cyber terrorist group, the Flag Day Associates, who had staged a number of attacks in the UK.  The participants, who were a mixture of military and civilians, were able to put the skills they had learnt to the test to identify vulnerabilities which may have been exploited by the attackers.

GCHQ along with organisations such as Infosec Skills, IRM, C3IA, Raytheon, The National Crime Agency, PwC and QinetiQ were on hand to assist the teams taking part in the event.  The aim of bringing together such diverse and high level security expertise for this initiative was to assist the development and identification of new talent for the cyber security industry.
 
A GCHQ spokesperson at the event said: "This is all about addressing the cyber security skills gap in the UK. GCHQ, industry and the Challenge are all working together to improve these increasingly important skills.”
 
The successful candidates were awarded their first professional qualification – the Certificate in Information Assurance Awareness (CIAA).  Those who performed particularly well earned a place on the new Cyber Scheme Team Member course.
 
For more information on the Cyber Security Challenge please visit: http://cybersecuritychallenge.org.uk/.