FEEC BUT organized a cyber security workshop for secondary school students

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication at Brno University of Technology (FEEC) organized, in cooperation with the Secondary Technical and Vocational School Dvůr Králové nad Labem (SPOŠ), a full-day workshop on cybersecurity in the energy sector at the end of the winter semester of the 2024/2025 academic year. The event was attended by 36 students and 12 teachers from a total of 12 high schools, including participants from Slovakia.

The morning program included a hands-on session on the BUTCA (Brno University of Technology Cyber Arena) platform, led by Tomáš Lieskovan. This session, focusing on ethical hacking, captured the students' interest the most. The afternoon program featured a lecture by Willi Lazarov on the current state of cybersecurity in the Czech Republic and worldwide. A parallel workshop on the same topic was held for teachers.

The significance of the event was highlighted by the presence of representatives from the Hradec Králové Region, including Member of Parliament and Deputy Governor for Education Jana Berkovcová, First Deputy Governor Jan Jarolím, and representatives of the University of Hradec Králové.

"I am extremely pleased that we were able to organize a cybersecurity exercise for high school students at our school in cooperation with VUT. The demonstration of the BUTCA simulator made a big impression on us, and the participating students greatly appreciated the opportunity to work with it. I consider this simulator to be a groundbreaking solution and a unique and valuable educational tool, and we look forward to further collaboration with colleagues from BUT. It is a great honor for us to cooperate with such a significant educational institution," said Petr Vojtěch, Director of SPOŠ Dvůr Králové.

The workshop marked the start of deeper collaboration in the region. Discussions were held about the direct integration of the BUTCA platform at SPOŠ and its distribution to other secondary schools in the region. The cooperating parties will also participate in the international cybersecurity exercise CZECH CYBERTRON in April 2025. Given the technical focus of SPOŠ, FEEC BUT will also continue to inform its students about study opportunities.

The BUTCA platform has already been successfully deployed at the University of Defence, University of Hradec Králové, Tampere University, SPŠE Plzeň (Higher Vocational and Secondary Technical School of Electrical Engineering in Plzeň), and SPŠT (Secondary Technical School Třebíč). Implementation is planned in the summer semester for Vítkovice Secondary Technical School, SPŠ Purkyňova, and EDUCAnet in Brno. Additional training sessions for industry partners are also being prepared.

Source: FEEC VUT