Our Partners

The Open University

Cyber Security Challenge UK has recently started working with The Open University in 2021 through the development of the latest addition to our portfolio of activities, CyberAttack!

BAE Systems

BAE Systems AI has been a long standing supporter, periodic sponsor and provider of assessors for Cyber Security Challenge UK, most recently in 2021 getting involved with the development of our latest training activity, CyberAttack!

Brilliant Little Business

Brilliant Little Business provide a full range of website services, from creation (based on WordPress) to updates and content writing and have been providing us with a support and hosting services since early 2021.

Rock Defenders

Cyber Security Challenge UK is the official delivery partner for Rock Defenders, the first ever Gibraltar Cyber Challenge planned to launch in 2022 to equip students with the tools and skills to go on to compete in the likes of CyberCenturion. You can play Rock Defenders now on cybergamesuk.com – work your way through eight starter challenges, finishing up with one final challenge to put your cyber security knowledge to the test.

Led by Stewart Harrison, Founding Trustee of the Gibraltar Digital Skills Foundation and Academy, Rock Defenders has gained significant interest from sponsors including E&Y, HM Government Gibraltar, GibTelecom and Royal Gibraltar Police.

Gibraltar Digital Skills Foundation

We are delighted to support Academy Trustee Stewart Harrison’s hard work and dedication to launch the Digital Skills Academy in Gibraltar. We’ve been lucky enough to call the students who represent the up and coming talent on the Rock part of the Challenge community over the years and will always be especially proud of their success. Stay tuned as we progress with plans to collaborate further to expand the portfolio of opportunities, activities and training courses available through this brand new online platform.

Secon Cyber

Secon is a leading cyber security company that provides a wide range of cyber security services and technology to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, and governments. Cyber Security Challenge UK and Secon are working on articles about the cyber security skills shortage, and realistic ideas on how best to help make up the shortfall.

The Cyber Trust

The Cyber Trust and The Challenge are mutually supportive in particular regarding creation and delivery of cyber security activities for school age children. The Trust, a charity,  was founded in 2017 to help children and vulnerable people access the digital world safely and securely and at the same time enjoy the benefits of technology.

Check out SpeakOut! on Google Play and the App Store and the extensive resources pages on The Trust’s website.

itrainsec

itrainsec brings together top cyber security experts and trainers to facilitate immersive learning experiences and meaningful relationship building, selecting the most relevant cyber security topics and engaging exclusively with top industry experts to develop and deliver their learning content. Our partnership began in 2021 as a key part of our outreach strategy to reach new audiences and provide expert training as part of our portfolio.  From 2023 itrainsec will help CSCUK deliver our Cyber Attack! exercises.

The National Cyber Security Awards

The Challenge is a beneficiary of The National Cyber Security Awards, which are aimed at rewarding those who are committed to cyber innovation, cyber-crime reduction and protecting the citizen online.

The Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec)

CIISec is the UK’s leading chartered institute for professionals in cyber and information security. It has been close to The Challenge since the beginning (including the former organisation, The IISP), and many of our team, contestants and participants are members or aspire to be so at various levels. We cooperate on many of our activities, and draw on CIISec products such as their skills framework.

RangeForce

RangeForce works in support of The Challenge in providing a platform and people for a number of our events, games, competitions and other activities.

Tripwire

Tripwire is an active supporter of The Challenge, not least through promoting us at major industry events such as InfoSecurity Europe, by sharing badges at the event and media promotions. The more shares and badges – the greater the donations!

The Cyber Scheme

The Cyber Scheme is a not-for-profit organisation run by people with significant experience in business and the cyber security industry. The Cyber Scheme is contracted to NCSC to provide certification in the penetration testing field. Certifications (team member and team leader)  meet the NCSC assessment standard of technical competence. Cyber Scheme also collaborates with IASME in supporting certification of Cyber Essentials Plus Assessors. Cyber scheme will continue to develop its portfolio of certifications. Collaboration with The Challenge is mutually supportive in terms of provision of a pipeline of talent for training and certification, recruitment and subsequent career choices.

The Pennine Kids

The Pennine Kids is a business-led initiative aimed at ensuring children and young people are ‘employment-ready and money-wise’ which has extensive networks in schools and the cyber industry in the Yorkshire and Humberside regions.  In 2020/21 our work together focussed on increasing participation in Cyber Centurion 7, Northrop Grumman’s flagship competition for secondary school students, to encourage students to benefit from regional opportunity in cyber and increase the level of inclusivity and diversity in the industry generally.

The University of Gloucester

The Challenge has had a long and productive relationship with The University of Gloucester, who have hosted outreach events to encourage new talent into the cyber security industry.  Current work with the Creative Computing team at Gloucester University is developing and expanding our successful online games suites.  We also have a relationship through our partners, The Cyber Trust.

National Crime Agency and ROCUs

The Challenge’s work with the National Crime Agency (NCA) focusses on ensuring that emerging cyber talent understands the ethical and legal environment they operate in.  Our work developing and supporting the Intervention programme, the original Matrix Challenge, the NCA Summer Cyber programme helps to promote the benefits of good Cyber Choices. NCA supports our https://cybergamesuk.com site through their Cyber Choices programme – including Cyberland and The Cyber Choices Challenge.

ROCUs are Regional Organised Crime Units. There are ten ROCUs across England and Wales that have a range of specialist policing capabilities, and this includes a dedicated cyber security team that works with businesses, organisations, and communities to promote the steps that we think will reduce the chances of becoming a victim of cyber crime.  The ROCUs, and their counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, regularly work with SMEs, charities, and representative organisations in response to specific threats and can provide support in the event of a cyber incident, irrespective of whether a formal police investigation exists.  Their direct link to the NCSC and the NCA puts them in an ideal position to act as a first point of contact for those that wish to raise their awareness of the cyber threat and improve their defences against attacks. More information on ROCUs is available here: https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/information/regional-organised-crime-units-rocus

BT

BT has been a supporter since the Challenge was founded in 2010, and continues to be a good friend donating time, resources and expertise to our outreach programmes

Northrop Grumman

Northrop Grumman is committed to building tomorrow’s cyber workforce through advanced cyber education, developing a Cyber Research Consortium with leading UK universities and offering its own Cyber Academy worldwide. Northrop Grumman is a member of CyberFirst and CyberInvest, and leads CyberCenturion, the cyber defence competition for 12-18 year olds.

Cyber Security Challenge UK was the official delivery partner for CyberCenturion 1-7, the sister competition to the US CyberPatriot competition run by the Air Force Association. In 2020, CyberPatriot celebrated its 10th year. 2021/22 will be the eighth edition of CyberCenturion, and the delivery partner after that date is STEM Learning. The competition is open to residents in the UK and British Overseas Territories who meet the age criteria. Team leaders must be over 18, can lead up to five teams, and each team must consist of four people with optional reserves.

exhale global

exhale global is a strategic communications agency specialising in cyber security awareness, as well as marketing and brand strategy for businesses in the cyber security industry across Europe. On a mission to improve diversity in cyber security, exhale global works with organisations and schools to encourage young talent into the industry, and runs immersive programmes designed to enable people to exist, survive and thrive in our highly connected world.

Cyber Security Challenge UK first engaged with exhale global to deliver Cyber:Recoded, the UK and Europe’s first cyber security careers event, and Hannah has since managed communications, marketing and PR for the Cyber Security Challenge UK brand, as well as CyberCenturion, Rock Defenders, plus a host of other local events and initiatives.

Naq Cyber

Naq Cyber provides tools and support for small businesses to boost their resilience against the very real threat of a data leak or a cyber attack and takes care of the necessary steps to ensure GDPR compliance. Naq is the cyber security and technical partner for Cyber Security Challenge UK.

LORCA

Based at Plexal in London LORCA has created a cyber ecosystem that includes industry, cyber innovators, investors and academics aimed at making the UK a global leader in cybersecurity innovation.  The Challenge collaboration with LORCA began when Plexal hosted the CyberCenturion V and VI Finals and has expanded to embrace their community in looking for innovative ways to support new talent into the industry. In 2020 this work is focused on raising awareness in East London to encourage new teams to compete in CyberCenturion VII.

Royal Signals

A natural partner of the Challenge who describe themselves as ‘fast moving and game changing’, the Royal Signals are leaders in IT, Cyber and Telecommunications and in 2020 launched a new 13th Cyber division.  Our work with them in cyber outreach will support students in understanding the opportunities open to them in the Royal Signals and the wider cyber industry.

IT Schools Africa

IT Schools Africa (ITSA) are a Charity based in Cheltenham.  They have collected over 115,000 computers and laptops which they wipe, refurbish and upgrade before sending out to their  NGOs in Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe who distribute the equipment to the schools in each of the countries. They also support a number of charities and community organisations in the UK with equipment. They are always in need of working IT equipment – computers, laptops, monitors, keyboards, mice. This is a very worthy cause, and we encourage organisations and individuals with equipment to donate to look at the ITSA website to see how to do that: https://www.itschoolsafrica.org/

There are also really interesting and worthwhile opportunities to volunteer and to help with the refurbishment of equipment, and more generally with the distribution. You can get in touch through contact@itschoolsafrica.org

The Annual Report and other documents are available here: https://www.itschoolsafrica.org/annual-review.html

Corporation Pop

Corporation Pop has supported The Challenge for several years through games and platforms such as Cyphinx and PoD, and at one stage through hosting of the main website.

SASIG

The Security Awareness Special Interest Group (the SASIG) is a networking forum for the cybersecurity industry that started in 2004, and has had a supportive relationship with Cyber Security Challenge UK and many of our other supporters and stakeholders ever since.

Get Safe Online

Get Safe Online (GSOL) and Cyber Security Challenge UK have been mutually supportive for many years, and many of our colleagues, sponsors and stakeholders share common interests. We are proud to support Get Safe Online and encourage you to take advantage of their fantastic online inventory of free resources and guidance.

NCSC – Cyber First

The National Cyber Security Centre (and before it CESG) – a part of GCHQ – has been involved with Cyber Security Challenge UK since our earliest days. More recently, the NCSC added us to The Cyber First member list as a facilitator.

Global CyberPeace Challenge

Global CyberPeace Challenge is a journey to recognise and award talent and build solutions to some pressing problems that our society faces. The objective of the challenge is to both present technical challenges to identify talent, and to tap their innovative approach to solving critical real-world problems. Cyber Security Challenge UK first supported them in 2020 as part of a mutually beneficial outreach effort to promote online activities during the global Covid19 pandemic.

Cyber Pathways

Cyber Pathways launched in 2018, providing a dedicated job board and EXPO for the cyber security community. We became a supporter and contributor to their online virtual careers fairs during the global Covid19 pandemic.

Cyber EPQ

Cyber Security Challenge UK were associated with Qufaro since its inception in 2015, in particular in relation to their Cyber Extended Project Qualification (Cyber EPQ).  On 19th November 2021, the Chartered Institute of Information Security (CIISec) took over the running of the CyberEPQ.

CIISec is the natural home for the cyber professional community at every career stage. This is achieved through having programmes that support Development, Recognition and Success. The CIISec team are absolutely delighted to be running the CyberEPQ and its various elements, as it underpins the work that CIISec already undertake with academic institutions and their apprentice focused enrichment programme.

Bob’s Business

A long term partner of the Challenge, Bob’s Business is an innovative cyber security education company based in Barnsley.  A founding member of the Yorkshire Cyber Security Cluster, Bob’s Business is led by the dynamic Melanie Oldham, a passionate advocate of cyber security education in schools, generously giving her time and support to our careers and competitions initiatives.

Jim Makes Games

JimMakesGames is a long time collaborator with the Challenge, turning our cyber education games ideas into fantastically accessible and enjoyable materials. Totally professional and reliable JimMakesGames makes games development work a really enjoyable and rewarding experience.

CyberStreet

The Challenge is a supporter of CyberStreet through our relationship with The Pennine Kids, and features in their list of supportive organisations.

CyGamBIT

CyGamBIT is an interactive and immersive cybersecurity game, designed to facilitate complex conversations and support young people to learn about current and emerging online threats. The CyGamBIT framework allows for the learning to be responsive to the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape, providing an ongoing learning experience, which embeds awareness of cyber threats, and equips young people for their future in a digital world.

Lootlocker

Lootlocker are on a mission to change the game so everyone plays fair. Emerging developers with great ideas don’t always have access to the same firepower as the biggest AAA studios. And even the largest developers and publishers may be wasting time reinventing the wheel over and over again. So Lootlocker are changing the game by proving the building blocks needed to build, ship, and run games, building these tools so developers don’t have to.  At CSCUK we have found their products and services to be very helpful as we have developed games such as The Cyber Choices Challenge.

Cyber Essentials

CSCUK is Cyber Essentials Certified.  Cyber Essentials is an effective, Government backed scheme that will help to protect an organisation, whatever its size, against a whole range of the most common cyber attacks.