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#SS17HACK spin-off infosec event in Kimberley

By Allyson Towle
Johannesburg, 12 Jul 2017

Following the success of the inaugural ITWeb Security Summit Hackathon #SS17HACK in May, an infosec skills development workshop will be taking place at Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, on 22 July. The Northern Cape arm of #SS17HACK took place in Kimberley over the same days as the ITWeb Security Summit Hackathon in May, as some 20 young, enthusiastic developers gathered to explore and build infosec innovations.

In the spin-off event this July, the Northern Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism is seeking to grow the capabilities of young ICT professionals and entrepreneurship and in so doing ignite an active digital economic cycle. As a result, the department is at the forefront of the tech activities in the region.

This event will take place on 22 July between 10am and 2pm and targets 50 students, entrepreneurs/innovators. For details regarding registration visit: https://infoseckby.eventbrite.com.

Attendees will be trained on subjects such as: best practices for young developers; mobile security; public systems; ethical hacking 101 and malware threat detection with the aim of assisting local techies develop and hone their skills in infosec. Participants will be involved in discussion sessions focusing on how best to approach information security skills development and also come face to face with vulnerability testing applications. The presenters include representatives from the Office of the Premier (Northern Cape); SITA; CSIR Cyber Defence; Snode; Diamond Creative Vision Hub; and mLab Southern Africa.

Local social entrepreneurship platform Diamond Creative Vision Hub will help facilitate the day's training activities, which will include a practical vulnerability testing session. Participants have been urged to bring own laptops so that sessions are constructive and hands-on. The Office of the Premier (Northern Cape) will also support the students by way of training and guiding the participants on the digital needs of the province. The driver of this initiative is the Geekulcha Student Society, which is responsible for the hosting of numerous other hackathons.

The event will also serve as a build-up to the annual provincial hackathon set to run concurrently with RHoK Pretoria, under the shared theme: "Digital Innovation for Academic Acceleration", on 9 and 10 September 2017 in Kimberley, as well as a lead-up to ITWeb Security Summit 2018 #SS18HACK.

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