CompTIA joins forces with ITWeb Security Summit 2024 to sponsor cyber security hackathon in SA

James Stanger, chief technology evangelist at CompTIA.

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CompTIA, the nonprofit association for the global IT industry and workforce, is proud to announce its sponsorship of an innovative cyber security event being held at the ITWeb Security Summit 2024, in Johannesburg, South Africa, on 4-5 June.

The ITWeb Security Summit hackathon (SS24Hack) gives participants the opportunity to sharpen their skills and collaborate with peers to develop innovative cyber security solutions. ITWeb organises the annual hackathon in partnership with Geekulcha, Snode Technologies and CompTIA.

Dr James Stanger, chief technology evangelist at CompTIA, will lead specific exercises during the hackathon and provide professional guidance and support. Prior to the event, CompTIA hosted two preliminary sessions – or “ideathons” – with potential young hackathon participants to mentor and pre-select hackathon participants.

“The hackathon is exciting for everyone involved because it combines so many practical, real-world activities,” said Stanger. “Participants will focus on discovering attack surfaces and identifying indicators of compromise throughout the event. And they are doing more than that. They also are gaining critical experience and generating indicators of achievement that demonstrate their internalisation of essential cyber security skills.”

This year’s SS24Hack challenges developers to build secure solutions capable of withstanding threats driven by artificial intelligence (AI). The event, which invites young developers from around the nation, will consist of three primary challenges:

• Secure Innovation, tasking participants with constructing secure-by-design solutions for business applications.
• Capture the Flag Challenge, a “Red vs Blue” competition presented by Telspace Africa (Red Team) and Snode and CompTIA (Blue Team).
• PaperCut, an innovative AI challenge centred on real-time threat detection utilising AI.

“It is amazing to have CompTIA join the established partners and to see the significant impact they are making already on our combined effort,” said Ivan Regasek, chief executive officer of ITWeb. “We are excited to welcome Dr James Stanger as head coach at our hackathon this year, and look forward to the unique brand of energy, enthusiasm and expertise he will surely bring. SS24Hack is set to be an awesome and truly impactful event.”

Investment in cyber security in the Middle East, Turkey and Africa continues to grow. In fact, spending on cyber security surpassed previous growth projections and is on track to be more than $6.5 billion this year, according to research from IDC.

“CompTIA is committed to delivering comprehensive skills training in cyber security and other technology fields in South Africa and around the globe,” said Loraine Vorster, vice-president, sub-Sahara Africa at CompTIA. “We look forward to the event and connecting with aspiring cyber security professionals.”