North Lanarkshire Council teamed up with IT and business consulting services company CGI, which brought its Cyber Escape experience to The Time Capsule in Coatbridge to provide an opportunity for stage one students to participate in a short ‘escape’ within COVID guidance.

The experience has been safely built within a mobile unit, where groups of up to four people work together to uncover clues, solve puzzles and accomplish cyber-related tasks to escape successfully in the time allowed.

The initiative is aimed at everyone from schoolchildren to executives so they can learn critical skills in a simulated real-world setting through interactive activities, much like other escape rooms.

This setting allows them to take on board everything from protecting their privacy and creating strong passwords, to physical security, device and document handling and navigating social media – while of course having a really enjoyable time.

The initiative, which was based within the grounds of the Time Capsule for a week, offers those taking part a “unique” approach to learning and engaging with cyber safe practices.

One pupil from Coatbridge High School said: “It was such an amazing experience – I’m so glad that I was able to take part. I’d definitely say that I have a far better knowledge about ways in which I can protect my privacy like creating strong passwords and being more aware about how I behave while on social media.”

Jill Woodward, Education Manager with North Lanarkshire Council, added: “Online safety is an essential skill set for all our young people to develop and the cyber room is an ideal experience in a unique and safe environment for them to do just that.”

CGI is one of the world’s largest IT and business consulting companies, working with multiple sectors in both the private and public sector. From telecoms to space, CGI works to support organisations as they innovate, modernise, and maintain secure solutions.

Lyndsey Teaz, Business Unit Leader for CGI in Scotland, said: “The Cyber Escape experience is a wonderful way of educating people to protect themselves online in a fun, interactive way, as the pupils at Coatbridge High School have found.

“But the experience is not just designed for the next generation – it is for everyone across all sectors of the economy. In today’s world we spend so much of our personal and professional lives online, so we must make sure that we have the knowledge to recognise and follow the correct techniques that keep us and our organisations safe from cyber-attack. CGI’s Cyber Escape experience has been specially designed to achieve this, in an enjoyable learning experience.”

Assistant Chief Constable Gary Ritchie, Police Scotland’s executive lead for Partnerships, Prevention and Community Wellbeing, said: “Police Scotland is committed to keeping everyone safe in the digital world we now live in, and happy to support the CGI Cyber Escape experience. It is a fun, exciting, interactive and innovative way for young people to understand about cyber security. It will enhance their knowledge, as well as teach them how to reduce the impact of a cyber-attack.

“Prevention is key to reducing the risk and harm caused by cybercrime, I believe that events such as this and numerous others which recently took place during Cyber Scotland Week will help build the skills required to understand the need to be even more cyber safe.”