8 June 2026
IT students at John Ruskin College recently took part in the Cypher Challenge, an exciting team competition designed to test their problem-solving, teamwork and cryptography skills.
The class was split into pairs, with each team given just one hour to complete the challenge. Their task was to locate six hidden cipher cards placed around the campus, using a series of clues to guide them. Once all the cards had been found, teams returned to the classroom to work together to decode the hidden message.
The Cypher Challenge was designed as a fast-paced, hands-on activity that combined physical movement with critical thinking. The groups moved around different areas of the college searching for the cipher cards, before applying logical thinking and decoding techniques to solve them. Exploration and problem-solving made for an engaging challenge, that helped students to understand the science behind cryptography by securing information and converting it into understandable data.
Reflecting on why he introduced the challenge, lecturer Richard Collins said:
“I wanted to give our learners a hands-on introduction to cyber security and cryptography in a way that feels like a real investigation. Instead of just learning about encryption in theory, students work in teams to search the college for hidden cipher cards and then decode them using different techniques. The activity develops problem-solving, teamwork and logical thinking while introducing learners to the foundations of how information can be encoded and protected in the digital world.”
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