Ireland wins gold at cybersecurity challenge

(Left to right) Mark Drinan, Luke Woodside and Dr George O'Mahony at the WorldSkills Cybersecurity challenge in Melbourne Australia this week.

An Irish team has triumphed at the Global Skills Challenge 2024, hosted by WorldSkills Australia. The team, comprising Mark Drinan and Luke Woodside, was mentored by Dr George O’Mahony from Munster Technological University, with the victory being Ireland's first in an official WorldSkills Cybersecurity Competition since its debut in 2021. 

The team is now preparing for the WorldSkills International Cybersecurity Competition in Lyon this September. As part of the Global Skills Challenge, the teams were put into the scenario of a real-world cyberattack on a fictitious company that was started based on a malicious USB and insider threat.