Record Number of Applications in HackMasters Competition – Last Minute

The HackMasters Competition was held within the scope of the TEKNOFEST Mediterranean Technology Competition Final held in ANTALYA. Stating that they organize a cyber security competition within the scope of TEKNOFEST every year as the Presidency Digital Transformation Office, Deputy Chairman Yusuf Tancan said, “The interest in the competition was higher this year than in previous years. There were nearly 2250 individual applications from approximately 39 different countries.”

This year, 2,248 individual and nearly 1,000 team applications from 39 different countries were submitted to HackMasters, and it was announced that 10 teams, one of which was from Azerbaijan, qualified for the finals. The competition was started by Digital Transformation Office Deputy Director Yusuf Tancan and T3 Foundation Board of Directors Chair Elvan Kuzucu Hıdır. Yusuf Tancan, who stated that they organize a cyber security competition as part of TEKNOFEST every year as the Presidency Digital Transformation Office, said, “The interest in the competition was higher this year than in previous years. There were nearly 2250 individual applications from nearly 39 different countries. First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you for making it to the top 10 and the finals among nearly 1000 teams. We also have a finalist team from our sister country Azerbaijan. I would like to welcome them and wish them success. In addition, a team from Turkey’s first cyber security high school, which we supported both the establishment and development of as the Presidency Digital Transformation Office, has also succeeded in making it to the finals this year. I would also like to congratulate them. Our main theme this year, in line with the main theme of TEKNOFEST Mediterranean, was determined as the Security of Artificial Intelligence. The technical committee created a fictional technology company for the finals, and the artificial intelligence application of this technology company will guide you throughout the competition. It is an exciting competition full of surprises.”

‘THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL COMPETENCES ARE BEING MEASURED’

T3 Foundation Board of Directors Chair Elvan Kuzucu Hıdır said that the 2024 theme of the HackMasters competition was determined as the Security of Artificial Intelligence, in line with the main theme of TEKNOFEST Mediterranean. Hıdır, who mentioned that the competitors will try to reach the goal by solving attack and defense scenarios against artificial intelligence-based systems, announced that the first 3 teams to complete all stages will be eligible to enter the rankings. Elvan Kuzucu Hıdır, who also drew attention to the fact that cybersecurity is one of the most important areas for our country, said, “The HackMasters Competition measures and rewards the theoretical and practical competencies of the competitors in the field of cybersecurity with real-life cyber incident scenarios prepared with different themes every year under the guidance of leading experts in Turkey. With this competition, the interests and skills of our youth in the field of cybersecurity are increased, and qualified experts are brought to the sector, contributing to the security of our digital infrastructures.”