From ground zero in cybersecurity to competition win

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From left: Gabriella Dinnoo of Trinidad (member of the other team that tied for 1st place), Kinesha Williams of Trinidad, and Emmanuel Chiddick (photo courtesy: Emmanuel Chiddick)
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By Charminae George

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A few months ago, 19-year-old Emmanuel Chiddick had very limited knowledge of cybersecurity. However, what she did have was a desire to learn and the motivation to push herself.

“I’ve heard people talking about ethical hacking before and I’m someone who is a bit curious and I like computers, so I thought ‘hey, why not step into this arena of computer technology…” Chiddick told Observer yesterday.

After six months of learning cybersecurity aspects, including ethical hacking via AntiguaRecon, she entered the 2023 OAS Cyberwoman Challenge, Caribbean Edition in July.

The online challenge is a women-only competition that tests cybersecurity knowledge and problem-solving through a simulated cyberattack, according to cybilportal.org.

Chiddick, having started the process of learning about cybersecurity recently, indicated that she entered the competition with the sole expectation of it being a learning experience.

However, after six hours of liaising with her assigned partners, Kinesha Williams (Trinidad) and Judith Sarjeant (Barbados), the trio emerged as the winners of the competition along with another team.

“I was shocked. I was like, ‘we did that? That’s us at the top there?” the cybersecurity competitor said, describing her first reaction when she saw that her team was at the top of the scoreboard.

A few months after the competition, Chiddick, one of her teammates, and a member of the other winning team journeyed to the Bahamas in mid-October to attend a cybersecurity symposium which they had won access to from the competition.

“The symposium brought together a variety of leaders and experts in the field of cybersecurity… [and] I was really grateful for this opportunity,” she stated, adding that meeting team members face-to-face was a surreal experience.

In the future, Chiddick intends to integrate cybersecurity into her career path.

“I want to get into embedded systems engineering and then to integrate cybersecurity into that…embedded systems security engineering. That has to do with circuit boards, creating microchips for devices that we use, creating a physical security component for those things,” she shared.

Additionally, she offered advice to anyone wishing to pursue a path in cybersecurity.

“There’s free information out there and if you want to learn, it’s there for you. Try it…If you do want to take it seriously, the important part is being consistent with it and finding your community of people that will support you along your journey,” Chiddick said.

AntiguaRecon was founded by Adam Dennis in January 2022 with the aim to allow young people in Antigua and Barbuda to develop the skills necessary to find jobs in the cybersecurity field while still in the country, according to Dennis.

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