The Gibraltar Digital Skills Foundation is a newly-registered charity which aims to develop digital skills within the community by tapping into local expertise in both the public and private sector. One of the charity’s inaugural projects was to develop Gibraltar’s first ever cyber challenge called Rock Defenders. We were delighted to be able to support this project with a grant to cover the development of the game.

Rock Defenders is an interactive competition aimed at 11-13 year-olds set in various locations around Gibraltar. It is to be introduced as part of the school curriculum later this year teaching over 900 students about a range of cyber-related topics including the internet of things, networks, passwords and digital forensics. Rock Defenders will challenge those who are talented in digital skills but also provide every student with a basic understanding of cyber security for their everyday lives. Through interaction with public and private sponsors, the students will also be exposed to the range of career options open to them with a digital and cyber skillset.

Stewart Harrison – Head of Physics at Bayside School, Cyber Centurion Team Leader and founding Trustee of the Gibraltar Digital Skills Foundation said: ‘Rock Defenders was designed to give students an idea of what types of jobs and roles exist in our digital Gibraltar. There are a variety of tasks within the Challenge, ranging from basic cybersecurity skills such as the identification of phishing emails, to investigating scenarios using databases or securing an office network. The tasks also vary in difficulty along with the content itself. We aim to see a number of things in the students who take part. A better idea of career prospects which are more technology orientated, more uptake in GCSE computer science and other STEM related subjects, and a better understanding of digital skills in general. Not everyone has to pick a career in technology, but they should all be digital technology aware. The Rock Defenders aims to do this.’