Under the patronage of His Excellency Advisor Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of General Entertainment Authority (GEA), the Black Hat event, which is the largest technology of its kind in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), was launched today, Tuesday, 15 November, in a huge ceremony held in the capital, Riyadh. The event has been organized by Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, in partnership with GEA, in the presence of a number of senior officials.
His Excellency welcomed the participants who came from different parts of the world. He expressed his happiness in organizing and hosting this most prominent international technological event in cybersecurity in Riyadh, confirming the great confidence that the Kingdom enjoys to strengthen its leading global position in the digital and technological fields. He indicated that everything that has been achieved comes with the support of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and HRH Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz.
He added that Riyadh’s hosting of Black Hat event comes within the framework of achieving the goals of Saudi Vision 2030, where hundreds of Saudi youths, with a high level of competence and experience, participate to compete with their counterparts from 35 countries, in the largest competition of its kind in the world to apply the leadership’s vision and directives by investing in the nation’s youth and the activities of the event in the entertainment and economic fields.
For his part, the Chairman of Saudi Federation for Cybersecurity, Programming and Drones, Faisal Al-Khamisi, noted that the Kingdom’s technical leadership in the region came because it is “an ambitious and passionate country for knowledge that depends on young people, and its modern leadership has a clear vision led by HRH Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.”
Al-Khamisi stressed that hosting Black Hat in Riyadh shows that the Kingdom is not just a place to launch big events, but a place that makes global events flourish and that it can maintain and expand its scope incomparably.
During the launch ceremony, the “FlagYard” platform was launched, which is an electronic platform that includes many cybersecurity challenges, similar to “Capture the Flag” challenges, to train those interested in the field and develop their skills in a competitive educational space that is available at all times, creating an educational environment to hone the skills of those enrolled in a fun educational framework based on games and challenges. The platform targets all those who are passionate about and interested in cybersecurity, from beginners to professionals.
The FlagYard platform is characterized by a competitive environment that attracts talent. It hosts global challenges from all over the world so that entrants can learn and compete at the same time. The platform comes with strategic sponsorship from NEOM.
Black Hat event was launched in six areas, namely the executive summit area, technical workshops, business hall, Arsenal, training courses area, and the events area. It was attended by a number of heads of the information security sector of the most important companies and entities in the world. There were some communication and training sessions and a number of speakers. The event also included a technical workshop area in which a group of specialized speakers presented the latest technologies in the field of cybersecurity.
Black Hat Developers showcased open-source tools and products related to programming and coding in the Arsenal area, which allowed visitors to communicate with experts and discuss many issues with them. The participating startups also showcased their creative ideas in the “Cyber Seed” competition, which is being held in the business hall area, while the training courses area organized a number of specialized technical courses presented by top trainers.
The event area, which comes under the strategic sponsorship of NEOM, received a wide turnout. “Capture the Flag” competition was launched with the participation of more than 1,000 contestants, making up 250 teams, who competed for the competition prizes amounting to SAR700,000. The “Bug Bounty Platform Cup” competition was launched with the participation of many contestants who competed to investigate and discover digital vulnerabilities in some real companies.
The event area included the cyber village, which presented 6 different challenges, including “Car Hacking Challenge”, which highlights weaknesses in vehicles, and “Room Escape Challenge”, which depends on solving a series of puzzles within a limited time frame by motivating the contestants to use their knowledge of cybersecurity to escape from the room.
The “Smart City Challenge” simulates different sectors of the infrastructure and the contestants’ ability to exploit the security vulnerabilities in these virtual facilities, while the “Unlocking Challenge” highlights the techniques used to exploit the vulnerabilities found in different locks. The “Drones Hacking Challenge” presents competitions based on the ability to control the drone and the skill to carry out various attacks on it. Finally, the “Electronic Chip Hack” allows visitors to learn about the eMMC chip and how to attack the Internet of Things and mobile phones.