Veracode Hacker Games: The Results Are In!

The first everﾂ?Veracode Hacker Gamesﾂ?competition hasﾂ?come to a close, but were the flaws inﾂ?favor of our brave competitors? Read on to find out.ﾂ?

Over the course of the two-weekﾂ?challenge, students from several universities in the U.S. and the U.K. came together to explore vulnerabilities and threatsﾂ?that they???ll one day face on the job.ﾂ?Competitorsﾂ?racedﾂ?to exploit and patch real applications inﾂ?Veracode Security Labs,ﾂ?a hands-on training platform that helps developers prepare for the threats they face daily.ﾂ?ﾂ?ﾂ?

The top teams earnedﾂ?someﾂ?epicﾂ?prizesﾂ?too;ﾂ?aﾂ?$10,000ﾂ?charitable donationﾂ?to theﾂ?first-placeﾂ?school andﾂ?aﾂ?$5,000ﾂ?donationﾂ?to the second–place school, along with individual prizes and complimentary Veracode software for participating universitiesﾂ?for a wholeﾂ?year,ﾂ?soﾂ?students can continue sharpening skills while in school.ﾂ?ﾂ?

In short, the stakes were high,ﾂ?butﾂ?the students did not disappoint! When all was said and done, competitors participating in the inaugural Veracode Hacker Games spentﾂ?51,859ﾂ?minutesﾂ?on labs in Veracode Security Labs ??? that???sﾂ?aboutﾂ?864ﾂ?hours orﾂ?36ﾂ?days of secure codingﾂ?awesomeness!ﾂ?Altogether, participants solved a total of 8,500 labs and accumulated nearly 100,000 points.ﾂ?

So how did it all play out, and which schools took to the top prizes? Here???s the final leaderboard for the first-ever Veracode Hacker Games:ﾂ?

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The leaderboard, broken down by the number of completed ???labs??? and how many minutes were spent in the platform, highlights just how hard all the participating students worked. Following a tough two-week battle, we???re excited to announce that the WMG Cyber Security Centre at the University of Warwick has been crowned the champion of the inaugural Veracode Hacker Games, with Tufts University coming in second place and Queen???s University Belfast rounding out third!ﾂ?ﾂ?

After a tense race in Veracode Security Labs, the University of Warwick team came away with an impressiveﾂ?21,640 pointsﾂ?and the esteemed title of Hacker Games Champion. Congratulations to the winning teams on some seriously impressive results!ﾂ?

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Total,ﾂ?we hadﾂ?nearly 90ﾂ?talented students fromﾂ?the aboveﾂ?nine universities: five in the United States and four in the United Kingdom. Students were excited leading up to the competition, sharingﾂ?fun facts likeﾂ?their favorite coding snacksﾂ?andﾂ?stereotypesﾂ?about programmersﾂ?that theyﾂ?loatheﾂ?(no, they???re not all shy!) ??? meetﾂ?the team from Stonehill College below.ﾂ?

Participantsﾂ?gainedﾂ?vital experienceﾂ?with a real hands-on developerﾂ?trainingﾂ?tool, butﾂ?alsoﾂ?walked awayﾂ?with a deeper understanding of:ﾂ?

• The important role security plays in the development process.ﾂ?
• Some of the riskiest flaws and vulnerabilitiesﾂ?developers face.
• New skillsﾂ?forﾂ?remediating andﾂ?preventingﾂ?modern flawsﾂ?in realﾂ?apps.ﾂ?

Contestants even got involved on social media, sharing theirﾂ?enthusiasmﾂ?andﾂ?warning others toﾂ?watch outﾂ?for their team???s skills:ﾂ?

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Aﾂ?participatingﾂ?student andﾂ?Ming Chow, Associate Teaching Professor at Tufts University,ﾂ?bothﾂ?shared the challenge on Twitter.ﾂ?

If you???re curious about Veracode Security Labs, check out theﾂ?Community Editionﾂ?here. It???s complimentary, featuring dozens of courses ranging from beginner to advanced and can get you started on your secure coding journey.ﾂ?ﾂ?

We had a blast kicking off the Veracode Hacker Games, and we hopeﾂ?allﾂ?the participants did too!ﾂ?If you played a part in the challenge @ us on social mediaﾂ?(Twitter,??ｯFacebook, or??ｯLinkedIn)ﾂ?and let us know what your favoriteﾂ?momentﾂ?was.ﾂ?

Interested in participating in the next one? Sendﾂ?an email toﾂ?Jason Laneﾂ?([email protected]) andﾂ?keep an eye on our blog for updates about future competitions.ﾂ?ﾂ?

May the flaws be ever in your favor!ﾂ?

*** This is a Security Bloggers Network syndicated blog from Application Security Research, News, and Education Blog authored by [email protected] (mmcbee). Read the original post at: https://www.veracode.com/blog/secure-development/veracode-hacker-games-results-are-in