IT students from 21 universities competed at a Capture the Flag (CTF) competition and hackathon at the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University (KDU) recently with the sponsorship support of Aion Cyber Security (Pvt) Ltd., as part of the Company’s continuing efforts to nurture cybersecurity talent in Sri Lanka.
The competition was organised in collaboration with KDU’s IEEE WIE Student Branch Affinity Group which focuses on the promotion and betterment of women engineers. The students formed 24 teams to compete at this event which was also a platform to showcase their prowess in cyber security and get recognised for it while challenging themselves to learn new skills and work together.
While the CTF contest challenges focused specifically on cyber security, requiring participants to use their skills and knowledge to solve complex puzzles and challenges related to information security, the hackathon enabled participants with different backgrounds and skills to collaborate on creative technology projects within a limited time to create functional software products.
The winners of the competition were presented with cyber security training opportunities in the corporate sector, which could significantly broaden their careers, the Company said. Aion Cyber Security not only sponsored the event but also mentored the organisers on how to host a hackathon, and created the challenges for the competition. Notably, this was the first-ever CTF-Hackathon competition to be held at the KDU.
CEO of Aion Cyber Security, Abbi Pilapitiya said, “Silicon Valley is the hot bed for IT entrepreneurship globally. The ecosystem is built around universities which gather innovative talent, venture capitalists who fund, and start-upsthat commercialise the ideas and make money which in turn motivates the next batch of talent. This cycle uplifts the whole system spirally. This is the model we should replicate in Sri Lanka, and Aion is happy to partner with KDU to groom local cyber talent.”
Chairman of Aion Cyber Security and the Sierra Group, Priyantha Perera said, “Cultivating local talent has always been a top priority for us. Whether it’s in engineering, construction, or cybersecurity, we aim to nurture Sri Lankan talent and provide the latest technology to take to the region.”