Bloomington, Ind. (Oct. 21, 2021) – IN3 (Indiana Innovation Institute) and Booz Allen Hamilton announced the three teams earning top honors and a total of $7,000 in cash prizes in the 3rd annual HackIN hackathon, which took place Oct. 8-10.
Nearly 50 students competed in the cybersecurity event, designed to challenge their knowledge in hardware, firmware and reverse engineering. In addition to participants from colleges and universities around the Midwest, for the first time this year Indiana high school students 16 and older also were eligible to compete. HackIN is designed to allow participants to apply their knowledge to real-world scenarios while also giving them an opportunity to network with mentors and learn about job opportunities.
“The cyber skills demonstrated by student participants in this event never fail to impress,” said Stephen E. Kelly, IN3 president and CEO. “It really speaks volumes about the talent pool in this field and the great work being done by colleges and universities, as well as high schools, to nurture that talent and prepare them for careers in this critical field.”
During HackIN participants competed as teams of up to five members. Each individual was provided a Game Kit that included the materials necessary to complete a series of challenges. After the challenges were concluded, a panel of judges selected finalists, who then made presentations on their work.
Challenges were designed to gauge knowledge in areas such as the ability to identify unknown hardware, circuits, and conduct research and reconnaissance; understanding hardware and software interactions; and demonstrating software reverse engineering skills and having the ability to quicky learn and understand custom virtual machine architectures, instruction sets, and emulation.
“HackIN truly shines a light on some of the best and brightest, and it’s inspiring to see these students and know they represent the future of the cyber field,” said Don Harder, a principal at Booz Allen Hamilton. “This event is a great way to bring all this talent to one place and help them learn more about the opportunities that await them.”
The following teams took home top honors:
1st Place ($4,000):
- Alex Lin – Purdue University
- Sampriti Panda – Drexel University
2nd Place ($2,000):
- Hongbo Chen – Indiana University
- Julia Garrard – Indiana University
- Huanyao Rong – Indiana University
- Yue Xiao – Indiana University
- Yifan Zhang – Indiana University
3rd Place ($1,000):
- Daniel Gallups – Purdue University
- Zhongtang Luo – Purdue University
- Bo-Shiun Yen – Purdue University
About IN3
IN3 (Indiana Innovation Institute) works with academia, industry, and government to create a hub of national security innovation that helps solve critical defense priorities. IN3 connects regional, state and national partners through a variety of means including convening research and business teams to solve emerging technical challenges for the U.S. Department of Defense. IN3 is focused on hypersonics, cyber-physical systems, trusted microelectronics and artificial intelligence. Learn more at www.ari-tech.org and follow us on Twitter @IN3indiana and LinkedIn
About Booz Allen Hamilton
For more than 100 years, business, government, and military leaders have turned to Booz Allen Hamilton to solve their most complex problems. As a consulting firm with experts in analytics, digital, engineering and cyber, we help organizations transform. We are a key partner on some of the most innovative programs for governments worldwide and trusted by the most sensitive agencies. We work shoulder to shoulder with clients, using a mission-first approach to choose the right strategy and technology to help them realize their vision.
With global headquarters in McLean, Virginia, our firm employs about 27,200 people globally, and had revenue of $7.5 billion for the 12 months ended March 31, 2020. To learn more, visit www.boozallen.com. (NYSE: BAH)