Cyber security expert speaks to Ayrshire College students
Ayrshire College recently welcomed David Colombo, the young hacker who exposed security flaws at Tesla, to its Kilmarnock Campus.
David, founder and CEO of Colombo Technology, arrived in Ayrshire as part of a tour of engagements across Scotland. Ahead of his speech at one of the Scotland's biggest software conferences, ScotSoft, David also visited West Lothian College and Robert Gordon University.
David started coding at 10 years old and exposed his first security vulnerability just three years later. He sought special permission from the German government to drop out of school at 15 years old and has been forging a successful career in cyber security ever since.
His trip to Ayrshire was organised by ScotlandIS, who also arranged a cyber security workshop for Ayrshire College computing students with OSP Cyber Academy.
During his visit to Ayrshire College, he spoke to students from courses in Computing, Uniformed Services and The HIVE about how he turned a childhood passion for coding into a prolific career.
21-year-old security and hacking expert David Colombo said: “I wanted to do some cool stuff this week ahead of ScotSoft, and one of the visits set up for me was to here at Ayrshire College. When I walked in, I thought ‘this doesn’t look like a college, it looks like a 5-star hotel!’
“I’m a huge fan of Scotland. I’m a huge fan of the education system, and I was recently talking about “where does college fit in? what is the concept around it?” and it just makes sense. You take young people, train them in in-demand skills, and then if they continue down the university path then they’re not starting from scratch – they already have a lot of knowledge.
“One of the points in my talk was to get the young people to see the opportunities around them, and now we just need to build the pathways for them to go ahead. I have no doubts that is going to happen here in Ayrshire as I feel you’ve already got great pathways into industry.”
Fiona Campbell, Inclusive Learning Assistant at Ayrshire College, said: “The HIVE (Hope, Inspiration, Vision in Education) students were super excited to meet David and ScotlandIS to discover more about a career within the Cyber Security industry. Our HIVE students have previously disengaged from education and struggle with their confidence. The HIVE students were shocked to discover that David, like them, had left school at 15 years old and that David had gone on to forge a successful career within the cyber security industry. At 21 years old, he had visited 45 countries helping influential people including Royal families and the FBI.
“Meeting David has inspired the HIVE students and boosted their self-belief that they also have the potential to work towards their dream career, if they work hard and recognise their strengths.”
12 October 2023
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