The UK version of the Cyber Security Challenge contest is to close at the end of March.

In a statement posted on its website, it said that it would close at the end of next month “after 15 brilliant years.” Whilst content including CybergamesUK.com, CyberLand, and teaching and lesson plans will survive in the hands of the Cyber Trust, the entity of the challenge will be gone.

Launched in 2010 in a blaze of publicity, the Challenge was initially backed by the Cabinet Office, the Metropolitan Police, the Office of Cyber Security and the Information Assurance Advisory Council, as well as bodies such as the Information Security Awareness Forum and private-sector companies such as QinetiQ and Field Fisher Waterhouse.

Competitions

It offered a series of competitions, with the first two official competitions including an online treasure hunt that involves identifying vulnerabilities on a test website, and a network defence exercise. These were followed by in person events and a masterclass, from which an ultimate winner was selected. 

The first winner was Dan Summers, a postman from Wakefield, while student Jonathan Millican was the second winner. However the number of winners soon began to increase, and national press attention faded. Also, research discovered that only a handful of challenge participants had gained full time employment in cybersecurity.

The challenge was initially led by Judy Baker, and then by Stephanie Daman before her untimely death in 2017. The most recent, and final, director is Robert Nowill. In an email to SC UK, admits that the output from the Challenge went quiet, and pointed this on several factors, including:

• Funding and grants were withdrawn as government wanted to focus on Cyber First and other things

• Also funding for  Team UK at The European Cyber Security Challenge was removed after government “decided we should not join in due to Brexit.” 

• The impact of COVID and lockdown

Nowill says: “Nearly all sponsors pulled away as they followed the government money elsewhere, and our perceived ROI (meaning how many people could sponsors recruit for the money they put in) was not thought to be good enough - although just look at how many of our alumni are in industry and government now!”

Downsize

He explains that a combination of those and other factors meant the Challenge had to downsize its team, meaning that the Challenge is now run by a team of two people, with others working on a contract.

“Just one sponsor stayed with us - National Crime Agency - and to cut a long story short and with far fewer staff, we started to focus on schools and online games/activities rather than face to face events and exhibitions,” he says.  He explains that the last big live events were in 2018, including the the London European Cyber Security Challenge final, and our Recoded showcase.  “An emphasis on classroom and then home (in lockdown) cyber fun, linked to NCA’s Cyber Choices was the new direction, and always free to users/players.”

More recently, Nowill explains that plans for schools were created, and it still sees thousands of hits per month, and more recently started working closely with The Cyber Trust.

“The reason to close this year is that NCA pulled out over 12 months ago, and the income since has been next to nothing. Joining up with The Cyber Trust – a Charity – means the useful assets are being donated, and cybergamesuk.com lives on,” he says. 

“They will inherit much of our following on social media too – which is large - and their own Trustees and volunteers (mainly University of Gloucestershire, and others from schools, girl guides etc.) give us more free/affordable resources to create more content for Cyberland.  The Trust’s flagship project at the moment is Family Internet Safety and we will develop some new activities around that.”

Dan Raywood Senior Editor SC Media UK

Dan Raywood is a B2B journalist with more than 20 years of experience, including covering cybersecurity for the past 16 years. He has extensively covered topics from Advanced Persistent Threats and nation-state hackers to major data breaches and regulatory changes.

He has spoken at events including 44CON, Infosecurity Europe, RANT Conference, BSides Scotland, Steelcon and ESET Security Days.

Outside work, Dan enjoys supporting Tottenham Hotspur, managing mischievous cats, and sampling craft beers.