Cyber Discovery Spotlight: Zoya Anwar
Imagine a time machine. Now imagine me in it with a cup of coffee in hand, strolling back a year to tell my hardly younger self that I would like to pursue a career in cyber security.
The first thing I would do is ask myself what in the world is cyber security? My range of computing knowledge would be limited to the world of GCSEs: a dystopia choking in a sea of numbered grades; where coding, the backbone of traditional computer science, were to be replaced by written exams; where I could achieve the highest possible mark by copying out the definition of cyber security eleven and a half times, but never truly understanding what it is.
Now fast forward to the past me that has finally linked cyber security and the world of protecting our expanding virtual lives, disbelief would be quick to follow.
What made me think I could do such a job? Of course, I was competent with computers, like most in my generation, but I’d clicked on my fair share of links shadier than a pitch-black screen, and my password (the same for almost everything) was, well, guessable to say the least.
Above all, the image I’d have- high definition, flashing like an irritating billboard in my head- would be of what I perceived of people in computer science. There it was: a group who could recite all the mechanisms of a computer and all the peculiar abbreviations in all the useful software quicker than the alphabet, while I would be late to the game. And there it was: in a world-renowned for being mostly male, I would inevitably be as out of place as a blind panda at a game of cards.
Cyber Discovery, a cyber security programme for young people, hasn’t entirely changed this gender perception for me — I would be kidding myself to say the industry doesn’t still have a long and steep road to go.
However, the programme did something far more effective than covering up problems. It showed me that I, a woman, can do this just as well as anyone else, if not even a little better. I belong here just as much as anyone else.
You don’t need to have any previous knowledge to participate, though, like me, it might take you an embarrassingly long period of time from the very beginning of the assessment stage.
By starting from the basics in a fun and interactive way (unlike current forms of formal assessment), Cyber Discovery eliminates a previously existing wall. To get past the bricks, the industry relied on the newcomers to already have a grounding in practical cyber security and consequently an interest, a flawed concept in a nation with a shortage of cyber security professionals.
The next stage might be a tad harder and later on, a tad near-impossible. Many dusks may sweep into dawns spent searching up what then seems like the most basic of knowledge. However, I assure you that you will understand more than you ever thought was possible, from manipulating flaws in the URLs of websites, all the way to finding secret files in an image.
It might not seem to come easy for you, and like me, you may never even get close to the end. Despite this, the sense of achievement you will receive while completing challenges and solving problems you never thought you could, is an incomparable experience.
Perhaps, similar to myself, the Cyber Discovery programme will change your perception of what you can do and who you can be. If you had asked a past me where I would be in a year, it certainly wouldn’t have ever been over here.
Zoya Anwar, 17
If you are interested in taking part in our Cyber Discovery Spotlight series, please get in touch. We would love to hear about your experience as a student, club leader or school taking part in the programme!
