IoT cyber challenge: hackathon 2021

Working in partnership with Abertay University’s Ethical Hacking group, this element of the Cyber Challenge programme helped to pilot to better understand the vulnerability of IoT systems to cyber-attack, and the resultant impact to connected systems and networks.

Working with Abertay University undergraduates, the event brought together teams of students to attack IoT hardware (designed and developed by the CENSIS engineers) that contained built-in security flaws at various levels of complexity. Students were charged with identifying and using these vulnerabilities. The event was designed to:

• provide students with valuable experience relating to the cyber security of physical IoT devices, in comparison with the IT systems they may be used to.
• Assess the viability of developing and integrating an IoT cyber resilience module into ethical hacking academic programmes at Abertay University.

The results of the hackathon were analysed with the aim of feeding into a best practice guide that could be updated to include new emergent threats for IoT systems, and students provided feedback on their experience.

CENSIS repeated this exercise twice in a partnership with international audit, tax, and advisory firm Mazars on an initiative for UK students aimed at supporting greater diversity in cyber security and IoT resilience.