Innovating AI Solutions: Penten’s Inaugural Hackathon
At Penten, we take our mission of providing digital security solutions seriously. But we also take some well-deserved time out of our normal schedules to have a bit of fun. Our recent inaugural Hackathon, sponsored by our Applied Artificial Intelligence (AAI) team, was a great opportunity for our team members to unleash their creativity and innovation.
The Challenge
Every good hackathon starts with a theme. For us, this was to creatively solve a cyber security problem through the innovative application of Cyber Deception and Active Cyber Defence technologies. So for three action-packed days, we brought together a diverse mix of delivery, engineering, and product management staff to take part. And here’s how it all went down!
The Process
Day 1:
Brainstorming and Ideation.
On the first day, teams rolled up their sleeves to brainstorm and develop prototype ideas. Product managers finally had the chance to pitch their wildest ideas that had strangely never before received development resources. Not surprisingly, many of the concepts revolved around enhancing our HoneyTrace product by gamifying the engagement with those pesky scammers trying to rob you of your hard-earned cash.
Adding to the excitement, our software engineering interns and graduates from our partnership with the ANU’s Internship Program grouped together to challenge our senior developers. To their credit, they built a cracking video game using some of our product features and ideas.
Days 2-3:
Prototyping and Pitches.
The next day and a half turned into the fastest agile development sprint ever seen within the tech industry. Teams that had cleverly recruited project managers in earlier stages found their previous decisions rewarded—not just with funding for their ideas, but more importantly with an abundance of pizza and tacos. We also experienced many an attempt from participants to game the judging system, from creating meme videos to rehearsing a short play and even 3D printing custom badges for new product ideas. Did we expect this level of creativity when planning the Hackathon? No. Should we reasonably have expected it? Absolutely. That one’s on us.
The Pitches
On the final afternoon, teams presented their pitches to a panel of judges—who were mostly just staff we could find with some form of ‘Senior’ in their job title, and hadn’t already dashed off early for a long weekend. Each presentation was impressive, with criteria including ease-of-use, scalability, quality, and, of course, the all-important “coolness” factor (largely a criteria that served as an excuse for judges to just give extra points if the prototype was awesome, even if it didn’t really follow any of the rules of the hackathon!).The winning team struck the perfect balance, with AI-generated images of Transformers in their pitch slides promising massive profits if our Head of Growth, Marketing and Corporate Affairs decided to invest. Whilst the real prize was satisfaction of a job well done, each member of the winning team did also walk away with a FlipperZero— prize has nothing to do with AI, but it’s cool, so why not?
The Outcome
Penten’s Inaugural Hackathon was a great activity, providing our team with a chance to:
• Think outside the box and tackle business problems from new angles
• Collaborate with colleagues they wouldn’t usually work with
• Break away from the daily grind and explore innovative ideas
Participant feedback
We organised this Hackathon to give our staff a chance to have a bit of fun (and get paid while doing it!). The feedback couldn’t have been better. Here are some completely real and definitely not made up quotes from our participants:
“The break from usual work allowed me to think of business problems from a different perspective.”
“Having some time out of our normal routine meant I got to work with people I wouldn’t normally have the chance to.”
“Hey, how do I get reimbursed for all the food I bought?”
“Why are you interviewing me for quotes right now?”
Looking Ahead
At Penten, we’re always on the lookout for open-minded, innovative individuals to join our team. If you’re passionate about secure communications technologies, tackling cyber security challenges with AI, or driving technical innovation, we want to hear from you!
We’re already gearing up for an even bigger and better Hackathon in 2025, and we can’t wait to see what ideas will emerge next. Stay tuned for more updates as Penten continues to push the boundaries of AI-driven cyber defence solutions. Check out our careers page.