ECSC - Cyber Security Challenge UK

The European Cyber Security Challenge (ECSC) draws the best of the UK’s emerging cyber specialists (aged 16-25) and pits them against their contemporaries in Europe. From 2015 – 2019 we selected and managed the UK team (“Team UK”) and worked with industry leaders who provided the technical training to ensure our teams had the best chance in the competition. Venues have been: 2015 Switzerland, 2016 Germany, 2017 Spain, 2018 London UK, 2019 Romania, 2021 Czech Republic, 2022 Austria, 2023 Norway.

Run by ENISA, the competition is a challenging exploration of the skills needed for a successful career in cyber security. The ECSC is also an unique opportunity to connect with industry leaders, network with peers from across the continent and discover more about the cyber security industry. The 2020 ECSC was postponed (due to COVID) and the UK was not involved in the 2021 Competition in Prague, 2022 in Austria nor 2023 in Hamar, Norway. We hope DSIT will enable a UK team to enter once again in due course.

You Tube Video from the UK Competition.

The UK ECSC Team were selected on 22 March 2019 at the Face to Face qualifier in Santander’s offices in Leicester. Forty two young cyber enthusiasts selected for their outstanding performance in the online qualifying rounds battled it out for 10 coveted spots on Team UK. Led by Team Captain, Sophia McCall, and coached by Paul Harrington from the NCC Group, the team have spent the summer in training, thanks to the NCC Group and Immersive Labs.

The sixth edition of the ECSC was held in Bucharest, Romania, 9-11 October. Over the course of three days, challengers completed a series of security-related tasks from domains such as web and mobile security, reverse engineering and forensics.

From cyber geeks to cyber heroes: interview with ECSC UK Team Captain, Sophia McCall

The 2019 ECSC UK team captain, Sophia McCall, is hoping for gold – and having followed her incredible journey over the past three years, we have a feeling she might just bring it home.

Read our interview with Sophia

On the road to Romania: interview with ECSC UK Team Coach, Paul Harrington

We chat to Paul about his detailed training plans for the team, the ever-changing world of penetration testing and his surreal encounter with Terry Pratchett.

Read our interview with Paul

In 2018, we hosted 17 countries at Plexal, London, in a three day event which ran alongside Cyber Re:coded: our innovative careers fair. As well as participating in ECSC 2018, attendees tested innovative new cyber tech, listened to talks by industry experts, snacked, hacked, celebrated and sailed down the river Thames.