More than 6,500 girls entered this years qualifying round of the 2021 CyberFirst Girls Competition, run by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC). Teams from more than 600 schools took part in online cyber security puzzles. 9 of the teams are from Scottish schools and will move on to the semi-finals, where they will take on their rivals. These schools have already accepted their place in the virtual semi finals: Hyndland Secondary School in Glasgow and Carluke High School in Carluke.
NCSC Deputy Director for Cyber Growth, Chris Ensor commented on the competition: “These girls have opened the door to what could one day be an exciting and rewarding career, where more female representation is undoubtedly needed.” With women making up only around a quarter (24%) of the cybersecurity workforce, this is a great opportunity for girls and young women to learn and get a head start on joining the specific industry.
