Celebrating the Final Day of Cyber Academy for Teens at MTU Campus.

The final day of the Cyber Academy for secondary school students was exciting and eventful at the MTU campus. After a fantastic week of engaging in our online cyber security camp, it was thrilling to finally meet our Cyber Security Academy students in person. The sense of excitement was palpable as we wrapped up an enriching and immersive experience, celebrating the culmination of their hard work.

The day kicked off with an engaging cybersecurity escape room activity, led by our Marketing interns, Luke McKenzie and Elaine Calnan. This was followed by a dynamic tabletop exercise, where the students’ fictional TY mini company, “Lemonade,” went global and faced a cyber-attack. We were impressed by the students' defense strategies and teamwork, keeping their company operational amidst the cyber crisis.

We were honoured to have Miriam Curtain from Cyber Skills deliver an insightful talk on digital resilience for SMEs. The students' knowledge of cybersecurity was remarkable, surpassing that of many small companies we have encountered. Miriam energized the room with a Kahoot quiz, a creative number game, and even an acapella performance, showcasing the students' teamwork and coordination, essential skills in cybersecurity!

The students also had the privilege of hearing from Ted Scully, the Head of Computer Science, who highlighted the benefits of pursuing a computer science degree at MTU. With an impressive 94% of MTU graduates securing employment or further studies, it was inspiring to see so many students already taking computer science as part of their Leaving Cert modules.

Michelle O’Keefe and Moya Cronin from MTU UX Design lab, led a fabulous interactive session, guiding the students through a design thinking exercise to creatively solve common student problems. We witnessed some entrepreneurs among us!

Dean Brennan wrapped up the day with a talk on phishing emails, demonstrating just how easy it is to compromise someone's computer without their knowledge. He emphasized the simplicity of creating phishing emails using tools like ChatGPT, even for non-English speakers, it can be constructed in seconds.

We extend a thank you to all the students for their engagement and politeness throughout the week. Meeting them in person was a highlight, and we hope they leave the academy with a newfound interest in cybersecurity careers.

A big thank you to everyone involved in this year’s academy: George O’Mahony, Hazel Murray, Dean Brennan, Tony O’Regan, Chloe Roche, Miriam Curtain, Nikoletta Kozma, Meha James, Saujanya, Jacob Camilleri, Ashley Sheil, Elaine Calnan, Luke McKenzie, Laura Bolster, and Catherine Wilson. Thank you also for the continued support from Science Foundation Ireland SFI

If you or someone you know is interested in participating next year, please sign up at https://www.cyberfutures.ie/.