Participants as young as 13 take part in #SS19Hack.

With the first day of ITWeb’s 2019 Security Summit underway at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, 50 young tech enthusiasts are participating in this years’ hackathon event sponsored by PWC.

Coders ready for hacking it out.

The hackathon, held by ITWeb in conjunction with ICT skills development company Geekulcha and Snode Technologies, aims to nurture individuals who are keen to develop their skills through learning and innovation, and who have a passion for cyber security.

Running for the third time alongside the summit, this year’s hackathon is themed ‘Protecting connected citizens in the 4IR’.

Aptly called #SS19hack, the hackathon has participants as young as 13 participating and engaging with industry leaders. Lerouro Mogeora, aged 13, is the youngest participant this year, while for 14-year old Sifiso Nkabinde this is the second year at the event.

Coders engaging with a mentor.

Those participating range from high school pupils to students from the Vaal University, the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of the Witwatersrand.

There are 13 teams hacking it out, creating secure IOT applications. As they code, they need to identify at least three vulnerabilities within their applications utilising OWASP, an open source cyber security platform for checking common vulnerabilities. OWASP also has tools to assist the coders in improving the security of their software.

A week ago, at a similar hackathon event in Kimberly, eight teams were competing, with the winning team there creating a solution that provides encrypted file share and messaging applications for government ministries. The top three teams from the event will also have their projects judged alongside those in Johannesburg.

#SS19Hack in session.

The overall winning team from the two hackathons will win R20 000 sponsored by Micro Focus, with the second and third placed teams winning R10 000 and R5 000 respectively, courtesy of MTN.

An added bonus for the top team in Johannesburg is that they will be awarded the Tshimologong Precinct Security Summit Hackathon trophy.

The #SS19hack continues during the second day of the ITWeb Security Summit 2019.

Mentors

• Ivan Regasek, CEO, ITWeb
• Ridewaan Hanslo, CSIR
•  Steve Jump, Telkom
• Solomon Bhala, PwC
• Bernard Mashala, Transet
• Nithen Naidoo, Snode
• Francois Mouton, Cyanre
• Icconies Ramatsakane, PwC
• Gift Nyembe, PwC
• Marco Loots, PwC
• Michael van Rensburg, Snode
• Tsholofelo Rantao, PwC
• Thulisile Dlamini, Ikusasa Tech Solutions

Panel of judges

• Doreen Mokoena, ZADNA
• Lucy Motsieloa, PwC
• Seth Robbertse, Micro Focus
• Kendal Makgamathe, Tshimologong
• Sorene Assefa, Cyber Czar