PwC uses challenges to identify talent

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) is looking to plug the employment gap in Britain's IT security sector by identifying the top ethical hackers in the country.

The firm's OneSecurity threat and vulnerability management team recently set out a number of online security puzzles known as ciphers for competition entrants to crack.

It created three levels of cipher - one for under-18s, another for the general population and a third for security professionals.

PwC director of threat and vulnerability management Jay Abbott explained that the puzzles were tough and that those who completed them were working to a high standard.

"We want to excite and inspire those who wouldn't necessarily consider cyber security as a legitimate career, while at the same time identifying the most talented individuals," he said.

The expert noted that it is relatively uncommon for people to seek out a job in IT security and that this new recruitment measure could prove useful in terms of identifying talent.

The under-18s category was won by 16-year-old cyber security hobbyist Edward Godfrey, while programmer Senad Zukic won both other categories.

In other news, PwC chief economist John Hawksworth has predicted that the UK economy could grow by an average of two per cent over 2011, following the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.