This £20 million governemnt-backed scheme turns teenagers into superhero hackers. Could your kid be next to graduate from year three?
Shivam Subudhi is 15 and lives in London. Three years ago, he was so inspired by the movies he was watching that featured hackers; he coded a simple port scanner revealing network doors that might let a hacker enter uninvited. “I decided to put my skills into practice for the first time,” Subudhi says, “by pentesting my school network and website.” Penetration testing is also known as ethical hacking and involves probing networks, systems, and sites looking for security vulnerabilities that could be exploited by an attacker. It was this activity that, unsurprisingly, brought Subudhi to the attention of the deputy headteacher. That teacher was also an IT enthusiast and introduced the budding hacker to the Cyber Discovery program; a £20 million ($24 million) U.K. Government-backed scheme to teach kids how to be cybersecurity superheroes. Could your kid be next?
