This is a guest blog featuring Sophia McCall, studying BSc (Hons) Cyber Security Management.

We’re proud of the achievements of all of our students, and are always pleased when their undoubted skills and abilities are recognised by others too.
Second year BSc (Hons) Cyber Security Management student Sophia McCall is the latest example of a BU computing student receiving national recognition when she was called up to Team UK for the European Cyber Security Challenge. Sophia was one of a ten-strong team that comprised students and industry professionals. With 15 countries taking part, Sophia and her team performed exceptionally well to secure a third-placed finish – but even making the team itself was a remarkable achievement. Sophia faced multiple rounds of tough qualifiers to become a team representative; she participated in online and face to face qualifiers – tasks including ethical hacking challenges, security challenges, hardware hacking and then presentations. She said: “Our lecturers have given us fantastic support to get us to the competitions, and their advice on particular challenges has been really supportive.” Sophia is also the Vice President of BU’s Cyber Security Society. The society, which isn’t limited to computing students, runs sessions every week teaching its 120 members ethical hacking, cyber security and other skills they can apply to real life situations, whether in their future career or as an additional skill to add to their CV.