Three high school teams gathered at Lockheed Martin Australia’s state-of-the-art LMA House in Canberra on Saturday 26 October to compete in the inaugural Australian Cyber Quest competition.

The goal of the competition is to inspire students to pursue careers in cyber security and prepare the next generation of cyber security defenders. During the competition the students competed in teams of two to five, in a capture the flag style quest. The challenges included web-based attacks, common website vulnerabilities, Windows & Linux privilege escalation, packet capture and log analysis, steganography, reverse engineering and cryptography.

Nine students and three coaches from schools in Canberra and Newcastle put their skills to the test, but in the end, it was the team of Mitchell Wills, William Loughton and Harry McGinnes from Baby_J from Canberra College who walked away with the coveted first prize.

The Shark Shells from Newcastle Highschool placed second and team Mark Zingerberger from Gungahlin College were third.

Before the competition kicked off all the teams were provided the opportunity to learn more detail about Lockheed Martin Australia’s innovation and speak with the team of volunteers who hosted the event. Behind the scenes, a team of volunteers gave up their Saturday to ensure the competition ran smoothly and the experience was fun, informative and inspiring for students, coaches and visitors alike.

Canberra College teacher, Sanjay Sharma, said his team was thrilled to win the competition this year and to be provided the opportunity to participate.

“It’s been a fantastic day, I’m just happy for the opportunity the kids had to come and participate and learn something,” he said.

 “Cyber seems to be an area that is growing in terms of job opportunities and this experience will help them get employment in the future. It’s a really great thing that Lockheed Martin Australia is doing – providing the opportunity for kids to get out, participate, compete and interact with other schools," he said.

Cyber Quest globally is in its third year with more than 500 students competing at 10 sites around the world.