Young students compete in cybersecurity competition at UW
Students in grades seven to twelve from Canada’s top teams competed in the Information and Communications Technology Council’s (ICTCs) sixth annual CyberTitan competition.
This year, the competition was held at the the Cybersecurity and Privacy Institute at the University of Waterloo (UW) on Monday.
CyberTitan is known as one of Canada’s largest cyber defence competitions and it aims to build the future of the cybersecurity workforce.
The students competing were from ten high schools and three middle schools across the country. To win the competition, participants must find cybersecurity vulnerabilities and fix them.
“There could be certain firewall rules that are not set up. Some ports could be closed that should be opened. There could be some malicious software on it,” said Michael Danishevsky, a coach from Étienne Brûlé Junior School in Toronto.
“You have to fight your way through these full day marathon competitions. It’s intense,” said Tim King, an education coordinator with ICTC.
King is also a teacher from Fergus. He said while no local teams made it to the finals, the Fergus team are five-time national finalists.
“I’ve had students going to the navy. I’ve had students going to post-secondary. I have one student in Germany right now working in cyber,” King said.
King hopes CyberTitan inspires more students to get into careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
“We’re desperately short of people in Canada. One in six jobs goes unfilled in the field because we just don’t have the talent here,” said King.
Being at the University of Waterloo for the event was another bit of inspiration for some students.
“A lot of us want to get into computer science in this very university,” said Grade 12 student Bernie Chen, from William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute in Toronto.
Some students said their brains are already in overdrive planning for their future careers.
“Something related to computers maybe computer hardware, or low level programming. Because I tend to really enjoy that,” said James Huynh, a Grade 11 student at William Lyon Mackenzie Collegiate Institute.
Organizers believe more education in cyber forensics could lead to fewer cyber breaches and said that starting with the younger generation is the best route to success.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Biden and Harris call the Israeli strike killing Hezbollah’s Nasrallah a 'measure of justice'
The Israeli strike that killed Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah was a 'measure of justice' for victims of a four-decade 'reign of terror,' U.S. President Joe Biden said Saturday.
'I think he needs to go serve a few more meals:' Ottawa Mission CEO fires back at Ford encampment comments
The CEO of the Ottawa Mission is responding to controversial comments made this week by Premier Doug Ford about those living in homeless encampments that received swift blowback from advocates.
Why Will Ferrell wanted a doc about his friendship with a trans woman to release before the U.S. election
Will Ferrell said in an interview with Variety that it was important for him to release his documentary, 'Will and Harper,' before the U.S. election so people could have conversations about trans people.
At least 56 dead and millions without power after Helene's deadly march across U.S. southeast
Massive rains from powerful Hurricane Helene left people stranded, without shelter and awaiting rescue Saturday, as the cleanup began from a tempest that killed at least 56 people, caused widespread destruction across the U.S. Southeast and left millions without power.
SpaceX launches rescue mission for 2 NASA astronauts who are stuck in space until next year
SpaceX launched a rescue mission for the two stuck astronauts at the International Space Station on Saturday, sending up a downsized crew to bring them home but not until next year.
LGBTQ2S+ minister Pascale St-Onge to make history with parental leave
Canadian Heritage Minister Pascale St-Onge is set to make history by becoming the first openly lesbian cabinet minister to take parental leave when her wife gives birth in the coming weeks.
They hit it off on vacation but then he went silent. So she decided to pick up the phone
When a few weeks passed and Nana Prempeh still hadn’t heard from the guy she met on vacation, she turned to her friends for advice.
What is open and closed this National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
This Monday, Sept. 30 is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR), a federal statutory holiday and day of remembrance for the Indigenous children who never came home from Canadian residential schools, as well as those who survived them.
Sima Sistani, who embraced Ozempic, is out as CEO of WeightWatchers
WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani, who pushed the company into embracing weight-loss drugs, is leaving the position after a two-and-a-half year stint.