Augusta University hosts inaugural Girl Scouts Cyber Challenge

The Georgia Cyber Center transformed into an incident response team headquarters for the inaugural Girl Scouts Cyber Challenge on Oct. 19.

Joining in the fun for the inaugural cyber challenge were 125 Girl Scouts leaders and Cadettes, Ambassadors and Seniors in grades 6-12. Participants came from across the state of Georgia.

“Cybersecurity jobs are held by only 18-20% of women, so this event is a great opportunity to not only introduce girls to cybersecurity skills, but also to have them speak with other women in the cybersecurity/technology industry to learn more about this growing career field,” said Karen Ribble, assistant director of Augusta University’s Cyber Institute at the School of Computer and Cyber Sciences.

The Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia council was one of 10 councils nationwide chosen to pilot the cyber challenge event, thanks in part to the support of sponsor Raytheon.

The mission? Girl Scouts were enlisted to help with a hypothetical hack of an oxygen tank that happened on a moon colony. Participants joined forces as an incident response team that worked together to find out who hacked the oxygen tank while learning some valuable cybersecurity skills along the way.

“Cybersecurity is one of the fastest growing career fields in the world and it’s critically important that we help prepare girls for leadership in these areas,” said Sue Else, CEO of Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia.