There were celebrations in our Computer Science department this week, after a team of five boys came second place in the UK in the highly regarded Lockheed Martin Cyberquest competition.
The boys, Lower Sixth Formers, Siddharth Prabhu, Frederik Simmen, William Tian and Chuck Hu, and Remove Former Fraser Morgan, worked as a team for three hours competing against teams from schools across the country to solve various cyber challenges.
Director of Digital Learning, Mr Paul Scullion, said, “To come second in the UK, in such a hotly fought competition, is a fantastic demonstration of the boys’ creativity, logical thought and understanding of cyber defence.”
Cyberquest, which is now in its fifth year, is an annual cyber security competition hosted worldwide by Lockheed Martin, the American aerospace company. It brings together school-aged children from across the world to compete and solve dynamic cyber security problems created by world-renowned engineers.
The boys were required to unravel a range of challenges during the virtual event, including computer science practices such as multi-step intrusion, steganography, reverse engineering, full OS hacks, packet capture and web exploits.
Team member William Tian explained, “For almost every challenge we were required to research and work our way through from zero knowledge, but it was great fun. I liked the part where my team and I sat together and discussed the problems – all working towards the same goal and all working on different parts, especially where everyone has the passion for computer science.”
There are many benefits of studying Computer Science, perhaps the most important aspect being the problem-solving skills that boys learn – an essential skill for life.
Fraser Morgan, the youngest member of the team told us, “I personally love Computer Science simply because of the freedom it gives me in being able to create my own tools. Challenges like these are particularly enjoyable due to the fun in the logic involved, and the joy of problem-solving.”
