Coláiste Chú Chulainn Dundalk student Finnian set to join national cyber security team

Finnian Oakes from Coláiste Chú Chulainn has been chosen to engage with the European Cybersecurity Challenge. The initiative by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) aims to enhance cybersecurity talent across Europe and connect highly skilled individuals with industry leading organizations. 

Transition year student Finnian Oakes was chosen to take part in a boot camp with students from around Ireland as part of the selection process for the Irish national team. 

Finnian explained:

"I spent Saturday 6th May working on security-related challenges from domains such as web security, mobile security, crypto puzzles, reverse engineering, and forensics, which the participants have to solve in order to collect points.

"The individuals with the most points win the competition and secure a place in the Irish national team, which will go on to compete in the ECSC finals.

"I really enjoyed working with the challenges, such as attack-defence training for computer servers, and look forward to the next boot camp which takes place later in the year. If I make the Irish Team, we will travel for the final challenge in Hamar, Norway, in October 2023."

Ms Aisling White is the co-ordinator of digital technologies and remarked:

"Finnian is of the new generation of cyber workers. He has a fine career ahead of him in the world of cyber securities. Recent international and local events such as HSE cyber attacks, banking fraud and Tik Tok remind us that the world of technology is always evolving. Change brings opportunities and we are confident of Finnian's continued success."