The Southern Africa Telecommunication Networks and Applications Conference (SATNAC) is one of the premiere telecommunication events in South Africa. Now, the organiser of the conference, Telkom, has announced a fantastic compliment to the conference.

That is the SATNAC Cybersecurity Hackathon that is being organised by Telkom Futuremakers in partnership with 22 on Sloane, Amdocs, Unistream and Geekulcha.

The Hackathon calls on university students between the ages of 18 and 35 studying ICT courses to participate.

Uncovering new solutions from university students aged 18-35 in ICT who have a knack for solving complex problems. The purpose of the Hackathon is for university students, including technical university students, with experience in research in the cybersecurity field to prototype solutions that will solve cybersecurity problems.

One of the main problems the hackathon appears to want to address is fraud within the business space. Solutions from the hackathon should “seek to mitigate human error through sophisticated technologies and automation”.

The SATNAC Cybersecurity Hackathon 2022 will take place virtually between June and August of this year with the finale taking place from 19th to 21st August 2022.

There is R160 000 is cash up for grabs (that the total prize pool) and if the winner is a registered business, the will have the opportunity of joining the Telkom FutureMakers Enterprise Development Accelerator.

“Telkom FutureMakers is passionate about promoting technology innovation that seeks to move the country forward through addressing challenges faced in the ICT sector. The industry suffers huge losses annually due swim swap fraud through digital identity theft and it is crucial that we keep ahead and counter the increase of cybersecurity fraud,” said enterprise and supplier development executive at Telkom, Mmathebe Zvobwo.

Entries close on 10th June and if you are interested you can head to this URL to find out more and enter.