Karachi, December 2, 2022: Continuing its journey of Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon, Ignite National Technology Fund, a public sector company with Ministry of IT & Telecom, conducted its qualifier round of Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022 in Karachi on 1st December, 2022 after conducting qualifier rounds at Quetta and Lahore. The Cybersecurity Hackathon aims to improve cybersecurity readiness, protection, and incident response capabilities of the country by conducting cyber drills at national level and to identify cybersecurity talent for public and private sector organizations.
Dr. Zain ul Abdin, General Manager Ignite stated that Ignite is excited about organizing Pakistan’s 2nd nationwide cybersecurity hackathon in five cities this year. The purpose of the Cyber Security Hackathon 2022 is to train and prepare cyber security experts in Pakistan.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Asim Shahryar Husain, CEO Ignite said, “The goal of the cybersecurity hackathon is to create awareness about the rising importance of cybersecurity for Pakistan and also to identify and motivate cybersecurity talent which can be hired by public and private sector organizations to secure their networks from cyberattacks. There is a shortage of 3-4 million cybersecurity professionals globally. So this is a good opportunity for Pakistan to build capacity of its IT graduates in cybersecurity so that they can boost our IT exports in future.”
Chief guest, Mr. Mohsin Mushtaq, Additional Secretary (Incharge) IT & Telecommunication said, “Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon is a step towards harnessing the national talent to form a national cybersecurity response team. Ignite will continue to hold such competitions every year to identify new talent. I would like to congratulate CEO Ignite and his team for holding such a marathon competition across Pakistan to motivate cybersecurity students and professionals all over the country”.
Top cybersecurity experts were invited for keynote talks during the occasion including Mr. Moataz Salah, CEO Cyber Talents, Egypt and Mr. Mehzad Sahar, Group Head InfoSec Engro Corp who delivered keynote address on Smart InfoSec Strategy. Panelists from industry, academia and MoITT officials participated in two panel discussions on “Cyber Threats and Protection Approaches” and “Indigenous Capability & Emerging Technologies” during the event. The event also included a cybersecurity quiz competition in which 17 teams participated from different universities. The top three teams of the completion were awarded certificates.
41 teams competed from Karachi in the Digital Pakistan Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022. Top three teams after the eight hour hackathon were “Team Control” (Winner), “Revolt” (1st Runner-up) and “ASD” (2nd Runner-up). These top teams will now compete in the final round of the hackathon in Islamabad later this month.
