Wartime Codebreaking Site to Become Britain's New Cyber Training Ground

January 1, 2017

Bletchley Park, the site famed for breaking the German Enigma encryption system during World War Two, is to become a training academy for the next generation of cyber defense forces.

Expected to open within the next two years, the school will nurture talented 16- to 19-year-olds with a focus on cybersecurity and conduct research projects in the area.

The National College of Cyber Security is part of a £50 million plan to bolster the UK’s defenses against increasing cyberattacks. It is funded by an industry-wide initiative called Qufaro, which includes representatives from BT and the National Museum of Computing.

The academy is intended to be primarily a boarding college, with around 10 percent of places for day students. It would be free to all students, who would not need to meet specific academic qualifications, but would be selected through aptitude tests, or on the basis of exceptional technology skills such as self-taught coders or students who dabble in making their own websites.

The students would work towards a potential variety of qualifications. Around 40 percent of the curriculum would be devoted to cybersecurity with extra focus on math, physics, computer science or economics.

The project plans to use G-Block, built in 1943, on the Bletchley Park site as the base for the college, with a £5m restoration project for the building.

Kylie Bull began her career in television news at ITN in the UK before moving to print journalism. She has been an editor at IHS Jane's for sixteen years, where she continues today, and was recently the managing editor at Homeland Security Today. Bull has reported on a wide variety of security, geopolitical and counterterrorism subjects and has interviewed world leaders such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister Theresa May.

You must login or register in order to post a comment.

ON DEMAND: DevSecOps creates an environment of shared responsibility for security, where AppSec and development teams become more collaborative. With the right training and tools, developers can become more hands-on with security and, with that upskilling, stand out among their peers... however, they need the security specialists on-side, factoring them into securing code from the start and championing this mindset across the company.

ON DEMAND: The insider threat—consisting of scores of different types of crimes and incidents—is a scourge even during the best of times. But the chaos, instability and desperation that characterize crises also catalyze both intentional and unwitting insider attacks. Learn how your workers, contractors, volunteers and partners are exploiting the dislocation caused by today's climate of Coronavirus, unemployment, disinformation and social unrest.

Security Magazine

2020 October

This month in Security magazine, we explore how Corning's global security group ensured business continuity and employee safety during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Also, we highlight the global security team at Uber and their recent security programs and initiatives. Industry experts discuss travel safety programs, career hackers, working for terrible bosses, group attribution error and more.

View More Create Account

Wartime Codebreaking Site to Become Britain's New Cyber Training Ground

Recent Articles by Kylie Bull

Malware Experts Predict Attacks on Medical Imaging Devices Will Increase

UK Hospitals Receive Funding for Cybersecurity

Cooperation at Sea to Combat Maritime Attacks

China Creates Secure Communications Network

Most Countries without Cybersecurity Strategy

Security Magazine

2020 October

Wartime Codebreaking Site to Become Britain's New Cyber Training Ground

Recent Articles by Kylie Bull

Related Articles

Report Abusive Comment