Concordia University March 23-24, 2024
Defensive cybersecurity for high school students.
About
Crack the Code will take place in person at Concordia University Irvine on March 23rd-24th! CTC invites local high school students in Orange County for 18 hours to compete and create robust defensive solutions to real-world cybersecurity problems. Food and fun included!
Tracks
Cybersecurity in Depth
From encryption schemes to intrusion detection systems, this track pushes students to look deeper into the internet infrastructure in the perspective of cybersecurity. How can you improve the state of security in technology? This track requires coding experience!
Example Ideas:
- Securing databases using blockchains
- Using machine learning for intrusion detection systems
- Creating a honeypot network
Cybersecurity in Life
Multi-factor authentication, passwords, face-ID — these are all security features that we use in everyday life. But is there a way to improve them? In this track, we push you to look at the technology that you use everyday and improve them from a security standpoint. This track also requires no coding experience!
Example Ideas:
- A tool to securely store your passwords
- An efficient yet secure way for multi-factor authentication
Submission Requirements
Cybersecurity in Depth
GitHub Repository Link
Slideshow
+ 3-minute Demo Pitch
Cybersecurity in Life
6-Page project Report
Slideshow +
3-minute Demo Pitch
ALL PROJECT SUBMISSIONS MUST BE NEW OR AN EXTENSION OF AN EXISTING PROJECT
Prizes!
Cybersecurity in Depth
1st Place: Meta Quest
2 VR Headsets
2nd Place: $10,000 in AWS Credits
3rd Place: AoPS Course ($100)
Cybersecurity in Life
1st Place: Mega
Arduino Kit (5 different boards!)
2nd Place: Mechanical Keyboards
3rd Place: Scrimba Access ($300)
NEW: Competitive Programming Contest!
Written by USACO Gold students, we are holding a mock USACO contest during the hackathon so you can take a break and earn some extra prizes! The contest will start at 1:00 PM and end at 9:00 PM on March 23rd.
Workshop: Designing a Secure Document Encryption and Watermarking System!
This presentation will go into deep technical detail of a patented document encryption and watermarking system that Mr. Fisher helped design and ultimately succeeded in selling. We will discuss how the design came together, how it works (public parts only), and what it was like to write and file the patents behind the system. There will be plenty of time for questions.
Judges
Professor Joshua Tallman joined the Concordia University faculty in 2019 as part of the Computer Science Department. He holds a Master’s degree in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University with a BA in Computer Engineering. Professor Tallman has 15+ years of experience working as a programmer and analyst in the field of computer security. He has held positions within the Department of Defense working in Maryland, Germany, and the United Kingdom, as well as working as an independent contractor for Dragos, Inc., a company specializing in security for Industrial Control Systems. Professor Tallman wants his students to understand their study and vocation as a means for advancing the Great Commission. He strives to make learning and work as enjoyable as possible.
As a transformative, servant leader, Corey White is a proven entrepreneur focused on innovating and creating new paradigms in the security industry and life. His leadership style is focused on an employee first approach because of the positive impact of happy employees to their customer relationships. Corey has chosen to take a people centric approach to life and to let all outcomes be driven by that philosophy. Twenty-five years of experience in the security industry has seasoned him to create the next exponential evolution. As Founder and Chief Experience Officer, Corey has created Cyvatar.ai to enable vendor partners to deliver reliable, repeatable, and measurable business outcomes to clients through an outstanding customer experience. This also allows the partner to engineer out complexity, improve renewal/upsell/cross-sell opportunities, and increase their customer satisfaction and referrals.
Speakers
William C. Fisher is president and founder of Quicksilver Software, Inc. One of the first generation of video game programmers, starting at Mattel Electronics in 1981, he is helping to run several technology companies. Quicksilver Software is now in its 38th year. The company is developing two games at the moment, both of which are still under wraps. One is a multiplayer online board game, and the other is a portion of a major console/PC sports franchise. Additionally, the company is working on the design of a device to assist with breast cancer surgeries, the first version of which recently received FDA approval.
Robotics startup Beyond Imagination received its seed funding round in 2019 and began active development of their avatar robotics system. The company is now in the middle of its next fundraising round and has been continuing development of is state-of-the-art mobile humanoid, known as Beomni. Mr. Fisher currently serves as COO of the company and is actively involved in both robot design and the development of the company’s cloud platform.
Schedule
Check-in will occur at the intersection of the GH Building. You can spot us with the purple banners!
Don’t worry, we’ll keep this short! Here, we will congregate in the Lecture Hall in the GH building to introduce sponsors and talk about logistics.
After going to your assigned room, you can start hacking with your team! We will have refreshments and event supervisors in each room, in case if you have any questions.
Just one hour in the competition lunch already?!? We are here to keep those brain juices flowing.
Login to Codeforces and register for our mock USACO Contest! It is around USACO Bronze – USACO Silver level.
If you want to learn something new, we will have workshops for you during the hacking period. You can also use these to take a break from your project!
Phew, finally a break from the hacking. Feel free to mingle with other hackers in the patio where we will serve food!
Gotta have some fun!
Hope you had fun! The top conpetitor will be given an Apple Airtag.
Thats it for now! As hackers, you can still work on the project throughout the night, but we HIGHLY recommend getting a good night sleep.
Almost done! Let’s start the first day strong.
The finish line is very close!
We are here to keep those brain juices flowing.
We would post the submission platform beforehand so you can submit your project on time. Meanwhile, enjoy some lunch!
We are judging classic pitch style, where every team will be able to see every other team’s project. We will also leave the patio open if you need a breath of fresh air.
After a long 24 hours, we will announce the top three winners for each track as well as sponsor prizes.
Map
The hackathon takes place in the Grimm Hall Buildings. Below is the exact location on Google Maps.
FAQ
A hackathon is an event where you develop an app or tool that fits the theme with your team!
Crack the Code will be on March 23rd-24th, 2024 at Concordia University! We begin at 10:00 AM on the 23rd, but feel free to check-in much earlier if you can!
Crack the Code is free for participants! We provide food for two days during the event so you can focus on your project.
We have three prizes for each track, cybersecurity in depth and cybersecurity in life.
Teams in the Cybersecurity in Depth track will be graded generally on usability of their app, impact, and performance of their pitch. Since Cybersecurity in Life is a no coding experience required track, teams will be graded on the quality of their idea, implementation plan, and performance of their pitch.
Join our Discord server and meet people! There are also great communities out there to find students to code with.
To attend this event, you must be a high school student that can travel to Concordia University Irvine.
Teams can submit to multiple tracks, but they must be DIFFERENT projects.
We are NOT an overnight hackathon. You would need to provide your own transportation to arrive to Concordia University Irvine on both days.
You can pop-in and say “Hi” to us anytime, but if you would like to receive swag you must submit a project!
Don’t worry! Cybersecurity in Life is a no coding experience required track, so you will be graded based on the quality of the idea, implementation plan, and performance of your pitch.
Mission
Crack the Code, or CTC, is a non-profit organization that aims to bring the defensive side of cybersecurity to high schoolers through hackathons. Rather than the usual offensive cybersecurity competitions, like pen test competitions or CTFs, CTC is a platform for high schoolers to showcase their coding skills and ingenuity.
The Team
- Ayushi Mehrotra, Executive Director
- Soham Dev, Executive Director, Sponsorship Head
- Aarushi Ghildyal, Marketing Head
- Aarav Bhatnagar, Sponsorship Team
- Shirley Yu, Website Team
- Sara Gold, Sponsorship Team
- Alicia Yoon, Sponsorship Team
- Avni Patil, Sponsorship Team
- Aditya Peddi, Marketing Team
- Joelle Cheeseman, Marketing Team
- Minerva You, Marketing Team
- Benjamin Shih, Marketing Team
- Jocelyn Gov, Marketing Team
- Anusha Ghildyal, Venue Coordinator
Contact Us!
If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at [email protected]. Be sure to follow us on Instagram: crackthecode.dev