Securing AI
The 7th annual Hack A Day, hosted by PwC Hong Kong, will take place on 7 November 2023.
This year's theme, "Securing AI," highlights the importance of understanding the potential security risks and vulnerabilities associated with artificial intelligence.
Running alongside Hack A Day Cybersecurity Conference will be the Hackathon and Capture the Flag Competition for students from Hong Kong, Macau, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia and Thailand. These exciting competitions offer students a unique opportunity to engage with AI models and tools, showcase their cybersecurity skills, and compete against talented peers.
Why you should join
PwC Hong Kong is committed to raising cybersecurity awareness among young people. As part of our commitment, we present the Hackathon and Capture the Flag Competition, providing valuable platforms to enhance the skills of future talent and equip them for a rewarding career in cybersecurity.
Seize the opportunity to learn to hack and hack to learn, and co-secure while becoming an integral part of the thriving cyber ecosystem. Don't miss your chance to join us and be part of this exciting journey of knowledge and collaboration.
I'm interested in - 2 items
Hackathon
Hackathon targets talented future engineers and technicians who wish to challenge their knowledge of building an interactive application powered by artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) with cybersecurity consideration built-in. Programming experience is preferred.
When
- Week of 11 September 2023 - 27 September 2023:
Nomination, team formation and application - 4 October 2023:
Online briefing - 10 October 2023 - 24 October 2023:
Hackathon platform opens - 2 November 2023:
Presentation for finalists - 7 November 2023:
Prize presentation for winners on Hack A Day at sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck
Participants
- Full-time undergraduate university students in Hong Kong and Macau during school year 2023/2024
Judging panel
- PwC Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Cloud team
- Representatives from AWS and Microsoft Azure
Rules
- Team format - Full-time undergraduate university students in your region.
- Each school can register 2 teams and each team must consist of three to four members.
- The competition will test the skills and knowledge of teams on developing a real world web application and the integration with cloud (AWS or Microsoft Azure).
- Each team will be entitled to a credit of USD 100 for development of the final product using their preferred cloud platform (AWS/ Microsoft Azure) during 10 - 24 October 2023.
- Teams are not allowed to make any changes to the final product after the deadline. Team that violated this rule will be disqualified.
- Teams are not permitted to collaborate.
- Each region will have one selected team that will go through a presentation (around 30 minutes) to demonstrate their final product via Zoom to the judging panel from PwC Hong Kong and the representative from AWS and Microsoft Azure on 2 November 2023.
Scoring
Area |
Ratio |
Creativity/Innovation in the idea |
20% |
Frontend: UI/UX |
20% |
Backend: Scalability (How reusable is the code) |
10% |
Backend: Reliability (Bug-free) |
20% |
Documentation |
10% |
Online technical walkthrough (Top team from each region) |
20% |
Total |
100% |
Security consideration (Bonus) |
30% |
Prizes
- PwC’s internships* or direct entry to PwC’s Superday for final year students**
- Sponsorships of cloud related examinations offered by AWS or Microsoft Azure
- Representative team (Hong Kong): Full sponsorship of TalentLabs advanced course with placement support
- All participating teams (Hong Kong): An one-off free CV review service delivered by TalentLabs and 20% discount on the PwC’s cybersecurity course
* With the PwC Cybersecurity team in your region.
** Please refer to your region's Career website to find out more about internship and graduate programmes.
Get prepared
Click here to understand more and to get you prepared for this upcoming competition.
Capture the Flag Competition
Celebrate the 7th year of our highly anticipated annual Capture the Flag competition. This signature event is a prime opportunity to attract and recruit top talents.
Students will have the opportunity to showcase their skills as they research, identify, and execute strategic attacks to capture as many flags as possible during the competition.
When
- Tuesday, 7 November 2023
- 8:00am - 4:30pm (Hong Kong time)
Where
- For Hong Kong participants:
sky100 Hong Kong Observation Deck
100/F, International Commerce Centre,
1 Austin Road West, Kowloon, Hong Kong - For participants outside Hong Kong:
Details to be announced later
Participants
- Full-time undergraduate university students in Hong Kong and Macau during school year 2023/2024
Judging panel
- PwC Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Privacy team
Agenda
Time |
Happening |
8-8:30am |
Registration |
| 8:30-9am | Settle down and preparation |
9-9:15am |
Welcome remarks and briefing |
9:15am-4pm |
Competition |
4-4:30pm |
Results announcement and award presentation |
Rules
- Team format – each university can register a maximum of two teams, and each team must consist of a maximum of four members.
- Teams are not permitted to collaborate during the competition.
- The competition will test the skills and knowledge of teams under six hacking categories. Students have to attempt all to score the highest points possible:
- AI - The AI challenge tests the teams' capability to compromise the AI models and algorithms. Through clever tactics and strategic manoeuvres. Success in this challenge will require a deep understanding of the inner workings of AI, combined with a comprehensive knowledge of attack vectors.
- Cloud - The cloud challenge tests the teams' capability to resolve real-life complex questions using cloud resources, including network service discovery, vulnerability assessment and exploitation against common network protocols and infrastructure architecture.
- Red Team & Blue Team - The red team and blue team challenge tests the teams' understanding of the enterprise’s infrastructure and ability to execute the attack path used in real world cyberattacks, as well as some threat hunting techniques.
- Threat Intelligence & Incident Response - The threat intelligence and incident response challenge tests the teams’ ability to respond to threat and incident on a timely basis.
- Web - The web challenge tests the teams’ ability to analyse and exploit poor configuration and vulnerabilities in different web services and programme logic.
- Binary & Reverse Engineering - The challenge seeks to test the teams’ knowledge on binary analysis and reverse engineering, analytical thought process and the ability to think out of the box.
Scoring
- Two to six challenges per category.
- Difficulty level varies for each challenge, with scores ranging from 50 to 500.
- The winner will be determined by the team attaining the highest score.
- If two teams attain the same score, the team completing the challenge in the shortest time prevails.
Prizes
Champion team
- One-year internship* or direct entry to PwC’s Superday for final year students**
- Sponsorship of Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) PEN-200 certification (90-day lab access)
- Sponsorship for CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) examination
First runner-up team
- Three-month internship* or direct entry to PwC’s Superday for final year students**
- Sponsorship of Offensive Security Certified Professional (OSCP) PEN-200 certification (90-day lab access)
- Sponsorship for CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) examination
Second runner-up team
- Three-month internship* or direct entry to PwC’s Superday for final year students**
- Sponsorship for CREST Practitioner Security Analyst (CPSA) examination
All participating teams (Hong Kong)
- An one-off free CV review service delivered by TalentLabs and 20% discount on the PwC’s cybersecurity course
* With the PwC Cybersecurity team in your region.
** Please refer to your region's Career website to find out more about internship and graduate programmes.
Interested in joining our competitions?
Register through your respective university representative before 27 September 2023 (For Hong Kong/Macau).
Hong Kong
City University of Hong Kong
Gerhard Hancke
gp.hancke@cityu.edu.hk
Hang Seng University of Hong Kong
Esther Woo
estherwoo@hsu.edu.hk
Hong Kong Baptist University
Dr. Jean Lai
jeanlai@comp.hkbu.edu.hk
Hong Kong Metropolitan University
Dr. Jeff Au Yeung
jauyeung@hkmu.edu.hk
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Charles Zhang
charlesz@cse.ust.hk
Lingnan University
Natalie Ng
natalieng@ln.edu.hk
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
S.Y. Chau
sychau@ie.cuhk.edu.hk
The Education University of Hong Kong
Lemon Kwan
hmkwan@eduhk.hk
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
Haibo Hu
haibo.hu@polyu.edu.hk
The University of Hong Kong
S.M. Yiu
smyiu@cs.hku.hk
Macau
Macao Polytechnic Institute
Jacky Tang
sktang@ipm.edu.mo
Macau University of Science and Technology
Andy Cheang
cfcheang@must.edu.mo
University of Macau
Bob Zhang
bobzhang@um.edu.mo
Hack A Day:
Cybersecurity Conference
Balancing security and opportunity to move boldly forward.
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Contact us
Mainland China and Hong Kong Digital Trust & Risk - Cybersecurity and Privacy Leader, PwC Hong Kong
Tel: +[852] 2289 2719
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