Education
Earlier this year I had the honour of supporting the Cyber Leadership Challenge as a judge at the BT Tower! I’ve been a judge at Cyber 912 previously but I’ve always been doing that virtually, so it was great to be able to goto the event not via a webcam! The Cyber Leadership challenge is a national cyber emergency competition for UK university students. The students work in teams through an evolving national major cyber incident, so they will likely be thinking through areas many don’t give two seconds thought to, such as:
- Communications
- Incident Handling
- Technical Response
- Intelligence sharing
- Engagement with the media
- Engagement with partners
- Reporting
- Presenting to key stakeholders
They both have to consider the social, political, economical and technicalities of the incident and their response plans! Which is, as they no doubt have found, quite a challenge to do!
So I finally got to get to the BT Tower!
The first evening we were at the FCDO, it was great to see so many people coming together to support the competition.
Then the following day I was in the BT tower to do my best mean Cyber Dragons Den impression!
The scenario was super fun, which lots of complex challenges to navigate when dealing with a major country level cyber incident! The teams did really well, I was quite lucky that I was judging the group that were crowned the winners: ‘bl00msbury_blizz4rd’
Their delivery was really good, both the written report and the verbal presentation. You could tell lots of thought had been put into this both from the style & substance.
As I say in the real world, there are no perfect incidents, only ones that move forward that avoid creating more harm, they definitely managed to navigate this really well!
Post event a summary review was sent out and the stats here are super impressive, it’s great to see events catering for the realities of our diverse world!
2025 UK Cyber Leaders Challenge
A Celebration of Talent, Diversity, and Innovation
Challenge in Review
260+
Students Participated
66
Teams in 3 Regional Qualifiers
44
Universities Represented
4
Home Nations Represented
53/47
Male/Female Gender Split
50/50
White/Non-White Ethnic Backgrounds
2x
Industry Average of Disability Participation
2x
Industry Average of Neurodiversity Participation
17
Teams in National Finals at BT Tower
7/11
Female Finalists
1
All-Female Team Crowned National Champions
Key Highlights
The 2025 UK Cyber Leaders Challenge showcased exceptional diversity and talent, with strong representation across gender, ethnicity, and abilities.
Northern Ireland teams have already expressed interest for 2026, promising even greater participation!
The National Finals at the iconic BT Tower culminated in an all-female team being crowned champions, setting a powerful precedent for future competitions.
I had a fantastic time, hopefully all the participants did too, not everyone can win but hopefully everyone comes away having a great experience but also having fun too!
Thanks to Rob/Pete, the entire Cyber Leadership Challenge team and to all the students and industry peers that make this event possible!
To find out more about the Cyber Leadership Challenge visit their website: https://cyberleaderschallenge.com
