Northern Ireland

Armagh students crack code of how to get into Buckingham Palace

Annarose Tennyson, Suzannah Conway, Molly McNally and Aoife Tiffney will visit Buckingham Palace after reaching the final of the 2018 CyberFirst Girls Competition. Picture by Brian Morrison
Annarose Tennyson, Suzannah Conway, Molly McNally and Aoife Tiffney will visit Buckingham Palace after reaching the final of the 2018 CyberFirst Girls Competition. Picture by Brian Morrison Annarose Tennyson, Suzannah Conway, Molly McNally and Aoife Tiffney will visit Buckingham Palace after reaching the final of the 2018 CyberFirst Girls Competition. Picture by Brian Morrison

FOUR Armagh students have cracked the code of how to get into Buckingham Palace and will today be guests of the Duke of York in London.

Annarose Tennyson, Suzannah Conway, Molly McNally and Aoife Tiffney from St Catherine's College are being rewarded for reaching the final of a UK-wide codebreaking challenge.

The 2018 CyberFirst Girls Competition saw girls aged 12-13 test their sleuthing skills and technological mettle against a series of challenges set by masterminds from the National Cyber Security Centre, a part of GCHQ.

The team, known as `The Furious Four', saw off more than 1,200 challengers before making it as the only Northern Ireland representative in the grand final of 10 teams held in Manchester.

The final challenges tested the girls problem-solving and technological skills as they tracked down a cybercriminal to help decrypt the files of a vlogging ransomware victim and find hidden clues in the room for points.

The invitation from the Duke of York to Buckingham Palace recognised the efforts of all the finalists.