Cal Poly and Industry Leaders Host Hackathon at California Cybersecurity Institute
Cal Poly’s California Cybersecurity Institute (CCI) hosted a hackathon focused around the “internet of things,” sponsored by security and technology industry leaders, Arlo and Bugcrowd, on Nov. 3 and 4 at Camp San Luis Obispo.
On Saturday, Nov. 3, 15 of Bugcrowd’s best IoT researchers, or hackers, as well as Cal Poly’s White Hat club came to Camp SLO. They each received Arlo’s home security and monitoring devices beforehand to perform preliminary reconnaissance. This reconnaissance prepared them to begin finding exploitations during the two-day event. Also, the CCI showcased a mock Internet of Things City complete with a hospital and businesses that participants hacked into and protected during the training scenarios.
“With an increasingly interconnected world, crime has moved onto gaming platforms, smart TVs, vehicles, and other home appliances,” CCI Director of Industry Outreach James Baker said.
Cyber criminals are now exploiting the multiple vulnerabilities of millions and millions of connected devices that comprise the giant network referred to as the internet of things.
Added CCI Program Director Martin Minnich: “The looming cyber threats facing organizations as well as private citizens with the internet of things are serious. The hackathon showed that through public and private partnerships, we can solve real-world problems in real time cheaper and faster than previously thought possible.”
The hackathon took place at the CCI located on-base at Camp San Luis Obispo. At the hackathon, Cal Poly students from the White Hat Club and IT professionals from the public and private sector worked together to discover new ways to identify, isolate and remediate critical vulnerabilities in this new IoT platform.
As the leader in crowdsourced security, we take our responsibility to fill the growing number of empty cybersecurity positions around the world very seriously,” Bugcrowd CEO Ashish Gupta said. “In order to make this a reality, it’s critical that we engage the next generation. Our work with Cal Poly and the hackathon is an important part of this mission.”
For more information on the hackathon, contact James Baker at jbaker30@calpoly.edu or 805-756-2948.
About the California Cybersecurity Institute
The CCI is a robust, multi-agency effort to protect California from future cyberthreats through training and research for government, academia, military, law enforcement, first responders and private entities. The CCI’s digital range differentiates its training program from others by creating immersive, scenario-based exercises on issues including next-generation cloud computing, anti-human trafficking, healthcare, critical infrastructure, and vehicular vulnerabilities. Learn more at www.cci.calpoly.edu
About Bugcrowd
Bugcrowd, a leader in crowdsourced security, manages the bug bounty programs of industry-leading organizations including Mastercard, Tesla, and Fitbit. These companies rely on Bugcrowd’s vulnerability disclosure and bug bounty programs because they find seven times as many critical vulnerabilities as traditional testing. Learn more at www.bugcrowd.com
About Arlo
Arlo is dedicated to one simple yet fundamental need we all share: to protect and connect with the people and places we love. Whether it’s our kids, our pets, our grandparents, our packages, our neighborhoods, our schools or our shops, we can’t be everywhere we want to be at the same time. Arlo makes it all amazingly simple to keep an eye on everything we love and be there when we can’t. Learn more at www.arlo.com