Last weekend, on the 16th and 17th of September, the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF) hosted the first hackathon of the Hackers do Bem program, which took place during the Brazilian Symposium on Information and Computer Systems Security (SBSeg). The event brought together a total of 23 participants and the challenge consisted of analyzing a dataset containing logs from an Intrusion Detection System implemented on RNP's Ipê Network. Based on the analysis, the competitors worked on developing innovative solutions to real alert system problems.

In the opening lecture, the mentors explained the objectives of the competition, covering the structure of the RNP network, the purpose of the Intrusion Detection System and the three real situations to be resolved by hackers. Competitors were encouraged to employ various techniques, including artificial intelligence, data analysis and cross-referencing to develop their ideas. 

Throughout the event, nine mentors specialized in the areas of development, data science, innovation, business and cybersecurity provided guidance to support participants in designing their solutions. On the first day, the hackers participated in workshops that helped them with product ideation, while the last day consisted of demonstrative presentations to the evaluation panel, in which participants exposed their solutions, and making final pitches.

The final proposals were evaluated by an evaluation committee composed of Michelle Wangham, Research, Development and Innovation Advisor at RNP and professor at UNIVALI, Diego Kreutz, professor at UNIPAMPA, Luiz Felipe Mendes, professor at UFJF, and Rodrigo Facio, Information Security coordinator at RNP. 

According to Michelle Wangham, the competition provided a learning opportunity for students. 

"It was gratifying to observe the dedication of the young people, who already had some knowledge in cybersecurity, but who, during the competition, through interviews and guidance, had the opportunity to deepen their knowledge and skills in the search for innovative solutions. The competitors proved capable of understanding the proposed problem well and analyzing data sets with information about security incidents, even with the little cybersecurity knowledge they had. At the end of the competition, they were more confident in their presentations and, above all, more motivated to explore the field of cybersecurity", highlighted Michelle. 

All competitors in the first Hackers do Bem hackathon were students, including undergraduates, masters, and high school students. Although the majority of participants were from the Juiz de Fora region, there were competitors from other states, such as São Paulo and Santa Catarina.  

The hackathon awards were sponsored by Oakmont Group, and offered cash prizes to the winners. The team that won first place was awarded R$5,000, the second R$3,000 and the third R$1,000. Vinicios Schulz, representative of Oakmont Group and Cybersecurity architect, highlighted the sponsoring institution's commitment to investing in training professionals and the reason behind sponsoring Hackers do Bem. 

"We have always supported events related to education, since we also face a lack of qualified professionals in the market. The award is a way to increase engagement and encourage young people to seek innovative solutions", he emphasized. 

The hackathon is part of the Hackers do Bem program, a multi-institutional initiative aimed at training human resources specialized in cybersecurity and privacy. In addition to training, the program also promotes actions aimed at boosting the cybersecurity innovation and research ecosystem. As part of the innovation actions, three hackathons are planned over the three years of the program, in addition to CTF competitions and workshops.

Meet the winners of the 1st Hackathon of Hackers do Bem: 

1st Place – Team “Tonhão da Segurança”, composed of Luciana Nascimento Santana Prachedes, Paula Rinco Rodrigues Pereira, Antônio Marcos da Silva Junior and Raphael Nogueira Rezende Laroca. 

2nd Place – Team “Falcão Peregrino”, composed of João Vítor de Castro Martins Ferreira Nogueira, Gabriel Fernandes Silva, Guilherme Mauricio Karlinski Cameron and Carlos Alexandre de Almeida Pires. 

3rd Place – Team “init0”, composed of Gabriel Maciel Furlong, Caio Cedrola Rocha, Romulo Chrispim de Mello, Antonio Jose de Medeiros and Pedro Henrique Moreira Raad. 
 

About Hackers do Bem 

Launched in May, the Hackers do Bem program aims, among other initiatives, to qualify more than 30 thousand professionals in information security and privacy, areas that have a problem of shortage of qualified personnel in Brazil. The initiative is coordinated by Softex and will be carried out by RNP in partnership with SENAI-SP.    

Completely free of charge, the program will initially offer five courses at leveling, basic, fundamental, specialized and technological residency levels. The program's target audience is technical, secondary and higher education students. In addition to them, technology professionals seeking specialization and those who want to migrate areas may also participate.