During the HALON hacking event, you will work in teams of three to find vulnerabilities in the open IP ranges and in a number of domain names belonging to various Dutch educational institutions. By finding vulnerabilities, you will contribute to the cyber resilience of these institutions. SURF, the ICT partnership for education and research, is organising the event and will ensure proper resolution of any vulnerabilities found.

For staff and students

Both staff and students are welcome to participate in HALON and register a team. While it is useful if you already know your way around IT systems, those with less experience are welcome to take part as well. If you like, you can attend a crash course in ethical hacking in Utrecht on 25 September. You will receive more information on this after you sign up. On 10 October, experienced hackers will be on hand to help you if you have questions.

What benefits will you get from participating? 

Participants will get:

• a HALON2023 T-shirt
• a chance to win one or more exciting prizes
• a fun day that also helps improve your IT skills
• a more cyber-resilient educational environment

Watch the YouTube videoExternal link

Put together a team and sign up now!!

Put together your own team of up to three people. Your team can be made up of only students, only staff or a mix of the two. You can also form a team with students and/or staff from educational institutions other than the one with which you are affiliated. If you do not have a team but would still like to participate, sign up on your ownExternal link by 20 September and enter 'single player’ in the comment field. The organisers will then assign you to a team.

Register by 30 September

The deadline for signing upExternal link with your team is 30 September. Important: Every member of your team must sign up individually using the email address they were assigned by their educational institution (that means no personal email addresses!) This is necessary to verify that you are a student or member of staff at an educational institution. Enter the name of your team in the comment field on the registration form. If you do not enter a team name, the event organisers will assign you to a team.

Programme and questions

Find out more about the HALON programme, rules and prizesExternal link. If you have questions, please contact halon@surf.nlExternal link.