HPE Hackathon

 

CyberWarrior Theme: Build-It, Break-It:

The Ultimate Secure Coding Showdown​

Sponsored by HPE. Thank you for your support for the community!​​

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Challenge Goal: Design defensively. Test offensively.

Think you can write code that's impossible to crack? Prove it. Build-It, Break-It is an HPE-hosted two-phase security competition that challenges participants to build the most secure software they can — and then tear apart everyone else's.

Unlike traditional CTFs where you solve pre-made puzzles, Build-It, Break-It puts your own code on the line. It's offense meets defense in a head-to-head format that mirrors real-world software security.

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Event Schedules

• Date: June 11, 2026 (Thursday)

• Time: 2 p.m. - 6 p.m. (including 10 min-break).  

• Team Size: 1–3 participants per team.

  • Only the full-pass conference users can participate in this hackathon. One-day pass users cannot participate in this competition since the one-day pass can be either  6/10 (Wed.) or 6/12 (Friday) only.

• Prizes:

  • The first place: $2,000* per team with Award Certificate

  • The 2nd place: $1,000* per team with Award Certificate

  • The 3rd place: Gift (TBD)* per team with Award Certificate

• Award Ceremony: Lunch Reception Time on 6/12 (Friday)​

• Note that this award recognizes the team as a whole. Any cash or gift must be shared among team members. The organizers will not participate in or oversee the distribution process within individual teams. An international visa may require appropriate legal documentation to receive a cash award. In such cases, our event manager will communicate directly with the winning team.

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How It Works

Phase 1 — Build-It

Teams receive a problem statement and implement a secure solution in C. Your source code is submitted and built in the backend, then run against a set of test cases. Scoring is based on correctness, security, and robustness — the fewer bugs in your code, the higher you rank.

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Phase 2 — Break-It

The gloves come off. Every team's source code and compiled binary is released to all other participants. Your mission: find vulnerabilities, craft exploits, and submit bug reports across five categories — from simple correctness errors to full control-flow hijacks. The more critical the bug you find, the more points you earn.

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Who Should Participate

Whether you're a seasoned security engineer or a developer who wants to sharpen your defensive coding skills, this event is for you. Build-It, Break-It rewards both builders and breakers — meticulous architects and creative attackers alike. Teams of 1–3 are welcome.

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What You'll Walk Away With

This is more than a competition — it's a feedback loop. You write secure code, others try to break it, and you learn exactly where your blind spots are. The healthy competition pushes you to think harder about both defense and offense, and every bug found (yours or someone else's) is a lesson earned. Whether you spend more time building or breaking, you'll come away with a sharper eye for the kind of vulnerabilities that matter most.

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Ready to find out if your code can survive the spotlight? Register Today!