Free cyber-security courses for teens are running this month

Two free cyber-security courses for students aged 14-15 and 15-16 are running this month at Queen's University, but the number of places is limited.

If you're looking for something for your tech-savvy teen to do this summer to develop their cyber skills, there are two fantastic cyber-security courses taking place at Queen's University this month. The CyberFirst Futures and CyberFirst Defenders courses will help teens learn about cyber-security threats and investigate ways of protecting computer systems from attack.

CyberFirst Futures is the first to kick off, running next week from July 8th to July 12th at Queen's University Belfast, where teens will learn about advanced cyber-security threats to mobile devices, apps, and software. The following week sees the CyberFirst Defenders course with a more general introduction to the tools and skills needed to build small networks and protect small personal devices from cyber-attack.

Both schemes are full-board residential courses running for five days and four nights, and are open to both male and female applicants from anywhere in Northern Ireland. The courses are completely free but are limited to 50 places each and restricted to specific age groups. Next week's CyberFirst Futures course is open to people aged 15-16, and CyberFirst Defenders is for ages 14-15.