- The hackathon addressed challenges and solutions related to Global Security and Vulnerability Detection

25 July 2023, Abu Dhabi, UAE: 42 Abu Dhabi, the UAE capital’s innovative and disruptive coding school that provides a unique peer-to-peer, gamified learning methodology and BEACON RED, an advanced cyber solutions provider that tackles complex national security threats, have jointly organized their second hackathon under the title “Cyber Warriors: Unleashing the Power of Bug Bounties in Cybersecurity”. The hackathon was attended by over 60 students from 42 Abu Dhabi.
The focus of the hackathon was Bug Bounty programs, which have become an essential part of cybersecurity and have a significant impact on all sectors of the economy. These programs incentivize independent researchers, often referred to as bug bounty hunters or ethical hackers, to identify and report vulnerabilities in the organization's software, websites, or network infrastructure. 

During the hackathon, BEACON RED showcased existing Bug Bounty programs and 42 Abu Dhabi students worked together to take first steps in order to participate in such programs and to uncover vulnerabilities. To track progress, a live scoreboard showed the names of students who were leading in terms of discovery within the Bug Bounty programs.

The hackathon served as an opportunity for 42 Abu Dhabi students to collaborate with cyber security experts from BEACON RED to tackle different challenges and showcase their innovative solutions to earn a number of prizes.
Marcos Muller Habig, Acting CEO of 42 Abu Dhabi said: “Hosting this hackathon comes as part of the 42 Abu Dhabi’s commitment to elevate the students’ learning experience and create a talent pool of coders who are equipped with advanced problem-solving, critical thinking, and collaboration skills, and ready to drive the Emirate’s tech landscape. It also reaffirms our efforts to collaborate with leading organizations and challenge students with hands-on projects which allow them to apply their wealth of coding knowledge.”

Akewak Biru was awarded first place in the hackathon, followed by Yonatan Kefyalew in second place and Simon Zerisenay in third place.
Bug Bounties are critical to all sectors of the economy as they help to identify vulnerabilities, protect customer data, enhance cybersecurity, and encourage ethical hacking. Equipping students with hands-on experience in Bug Bounty programs is a testament to 42 Abu Dhabi’s innovative approach to building a future-ready workforce of coders.
42 Abu Dhabi is an innovative and disruptive coding school, launched in 2020 as an initiative of the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (ADEK) and Abu Dhabi’s Ghadan 21 accelerator programme, which aims to drive Abu Dhabi’s ongoing development through multi-faceted investments in business, innovation and people.