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Security Summit 2017 announces its first hackathon

Kirsten Doyle
By Kirsten Doyle, ITWeb contributor.
Johannesburg, 23 Feb 2017

ITWeb Security Summit 2017

Registration is already open for the ITWeb Security Summit 2017, with six international plenary speakers, #SS17HACK launch, four training courses to choose from, and much more. For the complete agenda, click here.

ITWeb Events, ICT skills development company Geekulcha and cyber security start-up Snode are bringing the first ever hackathon to the ITWeb Security Summit 2017.

#SS17HACK is now open for registration and is looking for young, talented individuals who want to develop their skills through learning and innovation, and who have a passion for information security.

According to Allyson Towle, conference director from ITWeb, the hackathon is challenging disruptive innovators to build the most secure systems possible, and will also be used to explore new innovative mechanisms for the security sector.

Skills development

Tiyani Nghonyama, COO of Geekulcha, says: "As far as Security Summit 2017 is concerned, Geekulcha is highly anticipating a skills development drive through the hackathon especially for intermediate developers. We want to instill a culture of consciousness in information security from both the developers and consumers/users of digital solutions."

According to him, the hackathon presents the perfect opportunity to discover new talent and valuable skills capacity for various organisations. "We want to send a strong message that there is a need to invest in the collaborative economy and peer-learning platforms such as hackathons."

With this in mind, various organisations have been invited to scout talent for work and collaborative opportunities at this event.

Nghonyama says the hackathon is hosted against the backdrop of a need to grow skills capacity in cyber security in the country. "We believe building the momentum and equipping fresh talent with critical knowledge, and being exposed to over 500 experts in the ITWeb Security Summit, is a first step towards winning the war as intended."

Tiyani Nghonyama, COO of Geekulcha.
Tiyani Nghonyama, COO of Geekulcha.

He says it is a collective responsibility to insure innovation capacity continues to grow but grow safely and securely. "We have outlined three key sectors, namely finance, retail and public sector, that need critical defence, and we aim to build 'digital troops' through the hackathon."

There will only be 30 spots available, and those wishing to apply need to choose from a number of themes, or suggest their own idea during the registration process. As part of the event, an 'ideathon' will be held on 22 April 2017 where the various stakeholders will make their final selection.

'Must be solved' ideas

The mentors and judges have selected a few 'must be solved' ideas:

1. Finance
An Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cognitive fraud detection system.
Propose a model and system architecture for cheaply but safely distributing pension pay-outs to people in rural areas.
Design and develop an OTP system for Internet Banking that doesn't require the use of a mobile phone.

2. Public Sector
Twitter intelligence solution.
Blockchain voting system.

3. Retail
IOT cashless no-point of sale solution.

4. Other
Design and develop a system that will note whether your mobile phone is in the vicinity when you log onto your computer and deny access if it isn't.

Judging and prizes

Judging for the hackathon will take place around 3pm on 17 May 2017, and the winners will be announced to the audience at around 5pm.

The judges and mentors for the event include Dino Covotsos from Telspace Systems, Dr Jabu Mtsweni from the CSIR, Marc Silver from Discovery Health, Grant Thompson from MTN, Ivan Regasek from ITWeb, and Yugan Reddy from InfoGuardian.

There will be a first prize of R20k, a second price of R10k and third prize of R5k. In addition, entrants stand a chance of being a recipient of one of a number of internships on offer by reputable organisations.

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