Follow Us
-
303765
-
Isle of Man
Meet the Team: I Am Root
Meet the Team: I Am Root
This article is the first of a series of three Meet the Team articles published by Code Club ahead of the trip to the CyberCenturion National Finals in York on the 20th of April. Today, we’re here with I Am Root, the island’s Junior Boys team. The team is comprised of four boys on the island who have a passion for cybersecurity. Adam Drummond, one of the club’s Team Leaders caught up with the boys to get the lowdown on their preparations for the finals.
ALEXANDER
Owenson
8 years at Code Club
2nd CyberCenturion
Fun Fact: Alexander’s brother is also in a team
Balley Sallagh
Wants to work at NASA in the future
BRODIE
Millar
3 years at Code Club
2nd CyberCenturion
Fun Fact: Brodie is a huge fan of Science Fiction
Purt le Moirrey
Wants to be the next Bill Gates
FLYNT
Owens
1 year at Code Club
1st CyberCenturion
Fun Fact: Flynt owns 3 goats
Purt Çhiarn
Wants to grow up to be a doctor
LIAM
Carey
1 year at Code Club
1st CyberCenturion
Fun Fact: Liam has a YouTube channel with 1000 subscribers
Doolish
Wants to be a Cyber Defense Lawyer when they grow up
An Introduction to CyberCenturion
Adam:
CyberCenturion is a cyber defence competition established by the Air Force Association. It is an annual contest sponsored by the Northrop Grumman Foundation designed to excite, educate, and motivate students to pursue STEM and cybersecurity education and careers. Here at Code Club, it comprises one of our anchor events for the year, where we host three high-intensity qualifying rounds usually across the Autumn and Winter school terms. Come back next week to learn more about what happens at each individual round.
Question and Answer with the Team
Adam:
Firstly, I wanted to congratulate you all on making it to the finals again, Alexander and Brodie, and for the first time, Flynt, and Liam. It truly is a fantastic achievement, and you should all be very proud of how well you did during the three qualifying rounds. Imagine you’re talking to a friend from school who has never heard of CyberCenturion, or perhaps even cybersecurity, before. How would you explain the competition to them?
FO:
CyberCenturion is a competition about learning how to secure computers and stop hackers. You have to use your brains to deal with cybersecurity questions and using coding and other techniques to secure computers.
BM:
It’s practical. In a nutshell, it’s a ‘blue teaming’ cyber defence competition with lots of practical images [the machines to secure] to give you hands on experience.
LC:
It’s a cybersecurity competition where they give you a bunch of scenarios to work with. It’s like a detective game, except it’s in real life; it’s fun and it’s practical for learning skills for new job opportunities.
Adam:
I’m sure that lots of people would want to take part based on what you just said. So, tell me, how have you prepared for the CyberCenturion National Finals?
AO:
We have done a lot. We have been practicing every single week since we qualified for the Finals at Code Club. We also played some online games to build up bonds within the team and figure everyone’s individual strengths.
BM:
We also made a practice image, which we challenged each other to undertake during the Code Club sessions like Alexander mentioned before.
FO:
Practice images, such as Brodie’s, and Hack the Box, an online tool used by hackers [the good ones] to continuously improve their cybersecurity skills.
LC:
We have a Discord server to share our resources and to plan out the final. On the day, I’ll be doing the Fedora image [a certain type of Linux operating system], Alex will be doing Ubuntu and Brodie will be doing Debian. Flynt will float around to be able to help everyone.
Adam:
So, you’ve been doing great in advance of the finals, and you’ve got loads planned. I’m glad to hear that. Alexander and Brodie, you’ve been to the finals before, just last year I believe it was. What did you learn last year that Liam and Flynt should know before they go, any bits of important advice?
BM:
The key thing is this: don’t lock yourself out. It happened to us last year and slowed us down a lot. In the finals, people play ‘dirty’, and you need to be prepared for anything.
AO:
And if you do get locked out, you can always log out and log into a different user who is an administrator to fix it.
Adam:
Some fantastic advice, this really shows that there are more layers to the competition than you might expect from a first glance. Hopefully this helps you again this year. Let’s go around the table one-by-one for this one. What interests you in cybersecurity?
LC:
Job opportunities in a growing field in an oncoming digital age. There will be countless cyber based jobs in the future. I also really enjoy working with my friends, which I get to do this competition with.
AO:
It was a fun competition we decided to take part in. It will give us loads of high paying job opportunities in the future. [In terms of cybersecurity,] we are such a great team!
BM:
I’m not just interested in security, but also the competitive side and therefore the determination to do better than other teams [in CyberCenturion]. The skills we learn through the competition are invaluable too.
FO:
Learning how to secure new things in this growing age of cyber activity.
Adam:
Indeed, it sounds like you are all really interested, and I look forward to seeing where you go next. Ultimately, everyone wants to win a competition like this, what would it mean to you to win?
LC:
It would mean a lot because the whole team would know that we accomplished something big and in the future there would be more job opportunities available to us.
AO:
Winning would be show that we’re super smart. It’s something to put on my CV, and something that would be great when I am applying for university.
FO:
I would be very happy as it’s something that I’m not used to doing and it’s a new experience and something else I can use for the future of my education. It’s been fun and I’ve been enjoying it so far and hopefully I can do it again next year.
Adam:
This is fantastic to hear, and all the best to you all to win. One more question, and this to the whole team at once. Are you going to win?
TEAM:
YES!
FO:
Is that even a question?
Adam:
Finally, is there anything else you want to say?
FO:
Thank you to everyone who has made this possible for us, we won’t waste this opportunity
BM:
Get involved, it’s really fun.
About Code Club
Code Club is a Manx educational charity (number 1322) focussed on empowering individuals in the technological space. They aim to provide a focal point for people of all ages to develop digital skills, share their knowledge and experience, and to teach others how to leverage the technology that surrounds them.
Every week, Code Club hosts sessions to provide a space for students to learn about STEM topics. For more information about the club or CyberCenturion at Code Club, contact hello@codeclub.im, visit their Facebook page (Isle of Man Code Club) or drop-in to any of their Saturday sessions at Barclays Eagle Lab in Douglas, from 4-6pm. If you are interested in helping with sponsorship, please contact sponsorship@codeclub.im.
Code Club is a charity registered in the Isle of Man. Our aim is to increase digital literacy and empower people to use the technology that surrounds us.
You can support what we're doing by becoming a Code Club Member today. Membership is only £10 a year!
Leave a Comment