Women and girls currently make up only 17% of the UK’s cyber security workforce, we’re on a mission to change this narrative through an Innovate UK-funded Cyber Local project – “Empowering Girls through Ethical Hacking in North East of England”.

This project aims to train more than 150 girls in ethical hacking.

Led by Northumbria University and the Cyber Clinic in partnership with CyberNorth and Cystel, we’re encouraging Key Stage 4 girls (years 10 & 11) and college girls (AS/A level) with an interest in exploring cyber security, to join us for two free workshops where you will learn:

  • Basic Penetration Testing
  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Social engineering
  • Network Attacks
  • Open-source intelligence
  • Incident response

The course also incorporates a capture the flag challenge with all participants receiving a Cisco Ethical Hacker certificate.

Delivered by 10 trained undergraduate cyber mentors alongside experts from business partners, the workshops will be delivered across two Saturdays at Northumbria University.

Available dates:

  • 15th & 29th November 2025 (1st cohort)
  • 17th & 31st January 2026 (2nd cohort)
  • 14th & 28th February 2025 (3rd cohort)

Students must complete two Saturdays within the same month to finish the in-person Ethical Hacking course, with an opportunity for Cisco certification.

More information will be released soon, however, to register your expression of interest in attending the events, please email CyberNorth’s Delivery Manager for Skills, Helen Matthews on helen@cybernorth.biz