The UK Cyber Leaders Challenge 2025

The UK Cyber Leaders Challenge 2025 is an initiative aimed at equipping future cyber security talent with the skills needed in a threat landscape that is constantly evolving and becoming increasingly more complex. The competition is designed to expose participants to a “real world” scenario designed to challenge their thinking and apply their technical skills to provide their recommendation to remediate the incident to a panel of judges from across the spectrum of Cyber Security careers available to the candidates.

The first round of competition was held across 3 different regional heats in Manchester, Cheltenham and virtually, with the qualifiers participating in the final on 19th & 20th March at the BT Tower in London. Students play the role of advisors to government officials during an escalating cyber incident. They are provided with the scenario ahead of time to formulate their response in conjunction with their mentors and / or university professors. On the day of the competition they have an initial 10 minutes to present their incident response plan and make their recommendations to a panel of judges, from across both the private and public sector, followed by a Q&A session and an outside of scenario feedback session with the judges. They are assessed against their technical awareness as well as their presentation,  soft and leadership skills, such as critical analysis, effective teamwork, leadership and communication.

During the competition students are given plenty of opportunity to meet and connect with representatives from across the cyber security industry. The aim of the competition is to help reduce the barriers for students to enter into the industry, as well as broaden their horizons to what a potential career in cyber security looks like and the different opportunities that present themselves within the sector. Many that I spoke with hadn’t necessarily considered Cyber Insurance as an avenue to explore but by attending events like the Cyber Leaders challenge it means that Beazley will continue to position itself in this early careers market.

Beazley has been a proud sponsor of the Cyber Leaders Challenge (previously the 9:12 Challenge), including being Gold Sponsor for the last two years. Beazley is always excited to be part of this initiative as it helps with networking, attracting new talent as well as showcasing Beazley’s desirable workplace culture.

To get involved with the Cyber Leaders Challenge for 2026 and to find our more about the entry criteria the best place to start is the Cyber Leaders Challenge website or alternatively please speak to Rob Black and his team Identifying & nurturing the UK's future cybersecurity leaders | Cyber Leaders Challenge. Alternatively please get in touch and happy to point future entrants in the right direction and discuss the benefits of the initiative.