A group of West Vancouver cybersecurity students are being nationally recognized for their tech savvy skills in a recent competition.
High school students from the cybersecurity and artificial intelligence course at West Vancouver Secondary smashed this year’s CyberTitan VIII National Competition, winning second place earlier this month.
West Vancouver Secondary teacher Mahesh Chugani said this marks the first time a B.C. team has ranked in the top five.
“It was a huge deal, I was just so happy about it,” Chugani said.
Students in the competition were tasked with a simulation to help the city of Springfield after a cyberattack affecting their infrastructure. The teams were given six hours or less to achieve their goal.
The West Vancouver squad quickly got to work, figuring out what systems were under attack and how, finding and removing malicious software and then cleaning up the city’s digital infrastructure after the attack.
Group members weren’t tasked with an easy job, as they needed to find a malicious program the attacker left running to constantly damage Springfield’s electrical system. The teams needed to constantly monitor a program that kept malfunctioning while cleaning up the attacker’s mess, getting rid of all traces of malware from the hack.
The national recognition follows six months of competitions throughout the school year between 190 Canadian teams. Organized by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), the national championship on May 7 and 8 brought the top four teams from Western and Eastern Canada, the top three middle school teams and the top all-girls team while also welcoming exhibition teams from the Canadian Cadets.
“It came with such a shock, I didn’t prepare a speech or anything – because we’re supposed to say something – so I sort of stumbled and fumbled our way, but it was really awesome,” said cybersecurity student August Lam.
Placing second in the national competition is not the only win the West Vancouver cybersecurity team is celebrating, as they are the highest ranked team from Western Canada.
The hard work for the team, Username Taken, has paid off. Students balanced schoolwork alongside team meetings and multiple competitions since September 2024.
Chugani praised his students not only for their skills but also their perseverance and determination.
“After the winners were announced, I got an email from the organizers saying that there were some teams who gave up in the middle,” Chugani said. “[West Van students] kept on going through even when they were stuck, they kept trying.... I think those traits of perseverance, determination will help them, doesn’t matter what they do for the rest of their lives."
Learning cybersecurity and AI more important now than ever, students say
The cybersecurity and artificial intelligence course is offered to all secondary schools throughout the West Vancouver School District, the first of its kind in B.C. high school education. Students in the elective course spend half their time learning the basics of cybersecurity while the other half of the course is spent learning about AI. Students are taught to use online tools to perform tasks such as training a computer to recognize images, sounds and poses, or play a game, and using an AI app inventor for smartphones.
Chugani created the course last year as he kept reading and hearing about cybersecurity and AI.
“I felt that these were really important topics that our youth should not only know more about, but be good at and have a good understanding of,” he said.
Lam said it’s vital for people to learn the basics of cybersecurity and AI to protect themselves from scams.
“Because of AI, scams are also getting way more advanced – there’s facial, voice scams – and I think a lot of people aren’t adapting as fast to face these dangerous situations or threats from AI scams, and I think cybersecurity would be a terrific way to counter that through education earlier on,” Lam said.
Kaedan Bell, a student in the program and member of the cybersecurity team, said that learning the basics can save you from scams, but can also help you navigate life easier.
“You don’t have to know a lot. If you just know some basics, it will help you in your life,” Bell said. “Technology is becoming more prevalent [in jobs], and you kind of need to know how to use it, how to navigate everything, up to a certain extent, if you want to be successful in the workforce.”
The full list of this year’s winners can be found on ICTC’s website.
Abby Luciano is the Indigenous and civic affairs reporter for the North Shore News. This reporting beat is made possible by the Local Journalism Initiative.
https://bsky.app/profile/abbyluciano.bsky.social
Want to stay updated on North Vancouver and West Vancouver news? Sign up for our free daily newsletter.
