In the lead-up to the highly anticipated SS25Hack hackathon at the 20th annual ITWeb Security Summit 2025, participants convened at the SS25 Hack Ideathon hybrid event at Unisa, in Pretoria, on 12 April to refine their skills and strategies.
More than 100 young tech enthusiasts from universities across SA, including Unisa and Sol Plaatje University, have already registered, eager to refine their information security skills.
Speakers at the Ideathon explored local and international trends impacting cyber security, including cyber resilience in the era of AI, the need for increased collaboration, the increasing need for cyber security skills and the relevance of penetration testers (pen testers) and cyber security specialists in the digital economy.
The annual summit hackathons are hosted by ITWeb in partnership with Geekulcha, a platform for young tech talent in ICT.
Snode Technologies and CompTIA returned as main sponsors for this year’s edition.
Opening proceedings at the Ideathon, Ivan Regasek, CEO at ITWeb, said it is important for Africa’s future cyber security experts and innovators to understand what cyber resilience in the era of AI entails. This includes the heightened value of data for both organisations and cyber criminals, the importance of SOCs in reinforcing protection, how individuals still compromise security accounts, abuse loopholes and access, and all stakeholders operate across a broad threat landscape comprising multiple attack surfaces.
Fellow speaker Thabang Phala, chief empowerment officer at Cyberm8, agreed and urged future cyber security experts to be aware of current trends, including emerging technologies as a double-edged sword, the market demand for skills and the relevance of regulation within cyber security.
“As threats evolve, so must solutions (AI-driven defences, zero-trust frameworks, identity management). Skills in cyber security are highly sought after; your hackathon efforts can lead to real-world impact,” he said.
Market demands from security specialists
Addressing the event virtually from Washington DC, James Stanger, chief technology evangelist at CompTIA, said pen testers and security analysts are highly relevant in today’s tech footprint and their skills remain sought after.
Business leaders demand that security specialists understand the attack surface ‘tech trifecta’ – cloud, data centre and on-premises – to identify gaps and strengthen protection.
“Your job is to identify gaps in both the attacker and the attack surface,” Stanger added.
Keitumetsi Tsotetsi, CTO at Geekulcha, also highlighted increasing vulnerabilities within APIs and third-party breaches, and stressed the role that cyber security specialists and pen testers will play in providing protection in an ever-evolving threat landscape.
All participating teams at the Ideathon will submit a detailed outline of their proposed solutions and receive continued mentorship to refine their ideas. This phase will be followed by three days of coding, culminating in final presentations on day three of the ITWeb Security Summit.
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