Friday, the 22nd of November marked an exciting milestone at South Devon College as we hosted our CyberHorizons Devon event, in collaboration with CyberFirst Southwest. Despite the recent adverse weather, over 70 students from seven local schools braved the elements to participate in an inspiring day of hands-on learning, showcasing the future of cybersecurity.
The event offered students the chance to participate in interactive workshops led by a variety of leading cyber organisations. We were thrilled to welcome representatives from CACI Ltd, the SW Regional Cyber Crime Unit, CyberSafe Schools, Cognition Creative Learning CIC, and GCHQ Bude.
Workshop Highlights
The workshops were designed to explore cybersecurity through practical and engaging activities.
- Cracking the code with Cognition: Students tackled the challenge of adding encryption to their safe, guarding their treasure (a delicious stash of chocolate!) from cyberattacks. Teamwork and resilience shone as students learned to apply multi-factor authentication and explored different hacking techniques.
- Password power: South Devon College delivered an eye-opening session on password security, illustrating how easily social engineering can expose personal data. This session had students rethinking their digital habits!
- Lunch break fun: The Esports room offered a lively interlude, with students engaging in some light-hearted gaming competition amidst all the learning. Schools interested in exploring the Esports room further are warmly invited to get in touch for future visits.
- Afternoon sessions: The learning didn’t stop after lunch. Students honed their code breaking skills with GCHQ using morse code and a replica enigma machine, programmed sphero balls with CACI and solved a range of clues to break into a safe with South West Regional Cyber Crime Unit.
Feedback
We have recieved plenty of feedback from our attendees to express what a postive opportunity this was for students:
- “The students loved coding the robots to move around the mats”
- “The students loved the whole day really and asked if we could do this more often!”
- The students enjoyed the variety of activities and the opportunity to engage with concepts in a creative way such as the ROCU (SW Regional Cyber Crime Unit) activity”
- “It was a lovely day for students and staff alike, thank you very much! We were all impressed at the college facilities too, it was such a nice environment to be in”.
Schools who attended have all indicated that the event has helped to encourage their pupils to explore more opportunities surrounding cyber.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to all the students, teachers, and organisations who made our CyberHorizons event a resounding success. A special thank you goes out to Charlotte Smith of CyberFirst Southwest for coordinating such an incredible lineup of organisations, and to Charlotte Bounsall of South Devon College for seamlessly organising the venue, catering, and schedule.
Looking Ahead
We hope to see more schools join us for future events and activities across Devon and Somerset – keep an eye on our newsletters and the events section on our website!
