The Sophos and SANS Institute Treasure Hunt final at the weekend saw 25 competitors pitting themselves against real-world malware challenges.
The competition was the last of three stages that make up the road to the 2010 Cyber Security Challenge UK final.
Walker has also won a place in the challenge final, a Masterclass-style event to be hosted in Bristol at HP Labs on 5 March.
He will be joined by other high-ranking participants for the chance to be crowned the UK’s Cyber Security champion, including Treasure Hunt runners-up Alan Steer, an IT support worker from Rugby, Warwickshire, who came second, and Jack Dipper, an RAF engineering officer from Suffolk who came third.
All will be awarded prizes from a pool of career-building and education-focused awards, including internships and other opportunities with leading companies, bursaries at universities, and SANS Institute and 7Safe training.
The Cyber Security Challenge UK is a series of online and face-to-face competitions designed by leading security, education and government organisations as a response to the shortage of skilled professionals in the cyber security sector.
The challenge was launched at the end of July 2010 and three competitions were immediately opened for registration – the SANS and Sophos Treasure Hunt; the QinetiQ Network Defence competition; and the US Department of Defense Cyber Crime Center (DC3) Digital Forensics Challenge.
This story was first published by Computer Weekly