Several pupils from across Lanarkshire will this week go head-to-head in the final of the CyberFirst Girls Competition.
The competition, which is run by the National Cyber Security Centre, will take place on Wednesday (February 2).
Girls aged between 12 and 13 from Trinity High in Rutherglen and St Margaret’s High School in Airdrie will battle it with ten other Scottish schools to be a cyber champion.
The competition will take place virtually this year and see girls working in teams to solve cyber-related puzzles covering topics such as networking, artificial intelligence, cryptography and logic.
This is the competition’s sixth year running and it aims to encourage more girls to pursue careers in cyber security due to the lack of representation of women in the sector.
Women account for only 16 per cent of the UK’s cyber workforce.
Chris Ensor, NCSC deputy director for cyber growth, told Lanarkshire Live : “Best of luck to all the girls taking part in this year’s final of the CyberFirst Girls Competition in Scotland – it’s a fantastic achievement and they are great cyber ambassadors for the country.
“I thank schools and industry for their work helping us uncover new cyber talent and I hope for many of the girls this will be just the start of their interest in this area.”
More than 7000 students took part in this year’s competition, which is more than last year.
Deputy First Minister John Swinney also added: “Cyber security is essential to protecting the services we rely on day-to-day, from personal data to our banking systems, and even the power that comes into our homes.
“We want to see more women working in this crucial industry, so I was delighted to see so many schools competing in this year’s CyberFirst Girls Competition, which is a fantastic introduction to the career possibilities in this field.”
The winning team will take home laptops as part of their prize as well as be invited to a celebration event later in the year.
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