SecureHacks
A highschool hackathon by XdHacks Mini
Vancouver 2020-2021
team
Feb 20, 2021
-
Feb 21, 2021
Hackhub
About
Secure-Hacks is a virtual Hackathon that encourages high-school students from around the world to develop solutions that will help increase our personal security online. Within the span of 36 hours, you and your team will work together to develop functional prototypes of digital solutions aimed towards solving the challenges society encounters among these difficult times. There will be workshops, keynote presentations, interactive activities and mentors to assist your creation along every step of the way. Near the end, you will virtually present your prototype to a team of judges, all of whom are experienced individuals in the cybersecurity industry. The top 3 teams will receive grand prizes that are yet to be announced.
In the year 2021, technology has been integrated into almost every aspect of our daily lives. From valuable personal information to the even smart-home devices in your home, one with malicious intent can easily gain control of them remotely. Hence, cybersecurity is more important than ever. Over the span of 36 hours, you and others from around the world will work together to create innovative solutions that will help protect our personal privacy online.
Event Report
XdHacks Mini Vancouver hosted SecureHacks 2021 from February 19th-21st. Out of the 80 high school registrants, we ultimately had 16 teams formed from students across BC and worldwide. The mission was to design a project focused on increasing personal security online. Participants competed for gift cards, a Sublime license key, and a Centered subscription, amongst other amazing prizes.
As an organizing team, we focused on bringing top-tier speakers to our event. We hosted multiple workshops and activities, with notable speakers: Dominic Vogel from CyberSC on “A Career in Cybersecurity”; Angela McAllister from the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security on the workshop “Cybersecurity and the New Economy: Are you Ready?”; Adrian Stevens from Microsoft on “The Internet of Things”; and Jason Hughes from Fortinet on an “Introduction to Cyber Security Careers.” We also couldn’t have done our event without our generous sponsors, including Sublime, Taskade, Sashido, Qoom, Make School, .XYZ, and Centered.
After much deliberation, the top 3 teams were determined based on five main judging criteria; Innovation, Design, Practicality, Prototype and Presentation. The overall 3rd Place winner was Team Chocozipjac-l, who made “LookOut - Threat Detection Diagnostic Quiz,” a threat detection diagnostic quiz that provides personalized recommendations regarding your risk score and displays information on cybersecurity risks. In 2nd Place, we had Team Arctic Waters, who created the “Artic Waters Security Evaluator,” which looks at your devices, software, and accounts to find vulnerabilities or involvement in data breaches automatically. Finally, the SecureHacks 2021 winner was HunterHub by Team LeapFrog, who designed an easy-to-use platform connecting businesses with cybersecurity experts. Congrats to all the teams who submitted hacks! The organizing team consisted of 9 high school students from across the Lower Mainland. We were thoroughly impressed by the innovation and ingenuity demonstrated by our participants and hope our participants learned from this valuable experience. We look forward to the next iteration of XdHacks Mini Vancouver!