New virtual cyber school gives teens chance to try out as cyber security agents from home

Thousands of young people are being offered the chance to join a virtual cyber security school as part of plans to make sure the country develops the next generation of professional cyber defenders.

At a time when schools remain closed to most children, the online initiative aims to inspire future talent to work in the cyber security sector and give students a variety of extracurricular activities to do from the safety of their homes.

Teens can learn how to crack codes, fix security flaws and dissect criminals’ digital trails while progressing through the game as a cyber agent. This will help them develop important skills needed for future jobs, particularly in cyber security.

The school provides free weekly webinars run by industry experts teaching fundamental security disciplines such as digital forensics, cryptography and operating systems.

Also the government has announced a number of other online training courses to give UK school pupils the opportunity to learn and develop cyber security skills, this includes the launch of the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) hugely popular CyberFirst summer courses. The courses are moving online this year to help more than a thousand 14 to 17-year-olds develop important cyber skills from home during the coronavirus pandemic.

The National Crime Agency and Cyber Security Challenge UK will also this week announce teenagers can access their online cyber skills platformCyberLand for free during the coming months. In the game designed to teach teenagers the fundamentals of cyber security, players protect the virtual city ‘CyberLand’ from cyber attacks while learning key skills.