Hackazon Hack Lab
CEDP, in conjunction with Deloitte, invited Stage 5 students that are interested in STEM to be part of a Hack Lab High School program. This program came into fruition after Deloitte had identified the area of Cyber Security as an area of particular need in the workforce moving forward and has noted the critical shortage of experienced personnel in this area.
Ten students across Years 9 and 10 participated in the event which ran over two days (Tuesday and Wednesday Week 10). Each day was divided into two sessions. The morning session hosted experts from Deloitte who spoke about various topics on Cyber Security and ethical hacking (hacking to improve security).
They demonstrated various ways that hackers took advantage of weaknesses in computer systems and explained to students the ethical considerations related to white hat hacking. They also assisted students to become more aware of ways to protect themselves while online.
The afternoon session was allocated for students to undergo various challenges involved in Cyber Security, putting some of the skills that were demonstrated into practice.
The Challenges will remain open until 14 October 2021 and students are able to complete the challenges until then.
“The Hackazon has been an enjoyable event, something that’s made the end of a hard term more interesting. I’ve had great fun completing the challenges despite the frustrations of having to read and go through thousands of lines of code. It’s been a great opportunity to test just how ‘outside the box’ I can think.”
Keya Pandya, Year 10
“The Hackazon was a very eye opening experience. It encouraged us to think in ways that most of us aren’t accustomed to. I have little experience in technology compared to others but was still able to complete many of the tasks because of the presentation the host went through at the beginning of the session. Overall, it was an enjoyable experience and I recommend it to everyone no matter their level of knowledge in IT.”
Bishoy Ebrahim, Year 10
