This blog post was co-authored by Pete Cooper, organizer and host of the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, and Ainsley Katz, whose team, CamPhishing, won this year’s competition.
Cybersecurity is about more than technology. The UK Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge was founded to broaden the debate around the cybersecurity challenges we face, and the workforce we need to tackle them. Since we started in 2018, we have highlighted the need to broaden the way we think of cybersecurity skills, incorporating areas such as political science, policy, and international relations.
We are proud to have found and coached amazing competitors from across many UK universities. These competitors have come from multiple disciplines and demonstrated fantastic teamwork, knowledge, and the ability to be future cybersecurity leaders.
This year, Rapid7 provided the prize for the winning team, bringing them to Las Vegas to experience the DEF CON security conference. The blog below from Ainsley Katz, one of the members of the winning team, details her experience of competing, attending DEF CON, and entering the cybersecurity community in a professional international relations capacity. Thank you and congratulations to Ainsley and the rest of the Cambridge University team for participating in the competition and demonstrating amazing insight, passion, and engagement through both the competition and their trip to DEF CON.
— Pete Cooper, CEO of strategic security consultancy, Pavisade, Atlantic Council Senior Fellow, and the founder and director of Cyber 9/12 UK
My experience with the Cyber 9/12 Strategy Challenge, by Ainsley Katz
If someone asked me about my post-grad plans in January, I wouldn’t in my wildest dreams have envisioned flying an F-35 in Las Vegas or working at the cyber takes flight experience competing atlantic council cyber strategy challenge
