GCHQ summer schools to find the new generation of code crackers

A SPY agency summer school is to teach children as young as 14 how to help protect the UK from cyber attacks.

GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre will train pupils in skills such as cracking codes, securing IT networks and protecting friends from hacks.

Some 1,150 children will be chosen to attend one of the free five-day courses, after completing online tests.

The CyberFirst scheme was created with education charity The Smallpiece Trust, with sessions in cities including Birmingham, Newcastle and Warwick in July and August.

Those aged 14-15 will learn skills such as securing tablets and iPhones, while 16 and 17year-olds will be taught about cyber crime and how networks could be vulnerable to hacks.

The teens will also learn about how they can help make Britain ‘the safest place to live and work online’. The NCSC’s Chris Ensor said the sessions would help prepare youngsters for a possible career in cyber security.

He added that most millennials had an ‘instinctive understanding’ of internet-enabled devices ‘but not necessarily how to protect them’.

There will be a girls-only course in a bid to attract more women to the sector. Dr Kevin Stenson of the Smallpiece Trust said: ‘It is clear the UK has insufficient numbers of cyber security experts… we need more students coming through.’