Global secure coding company Secure Code Warrior® is set to bring leading global organisations and developers together to compete in an international secure coding championship for its inaugural ‘Devlympics 2021’ during Cybersecurity Awareness Month.
The championship is based around recent, common coding breaches and will inspire real-life cyber defence. Developers from organisations such as Allianz, Atlassian, Contrast Security, Datacom and Sonatype will compete in gamified coding challenges to identify, locate and fix common code errors against the clock.
The hands-on coding challenges are based on real-world scenarios like the cyber-attacks and security breaches Facebook, WhatsApp, GitHub and high-profile banks have faced, with developers able to tailor the language:framework to their skillset across web, mobile, cloud, API and front-end.
Streamed live on Twitch and running on Secure Code Warrior’s Tournament Product, the Devlympics event will run for 12 hours from 1am AEDT on 20 October and will encourage the adoption of a positive and developer-led approach to make secure coding intrinsic to a developer’s workflow and central to a company’s culture.
Pieter Danhieux, CEO and Co-Founder of Secure Code Warrior, said the vision for Devlympics is to build a global developer community.
“We are challenging developers to make it their mission to level-up their secure coding skills to tackle common vulnerabilities head-on, with hands-on, contextual learning that is relevant to the work they do every day. We are thrilled to have such a fantastic line-up of global organisations and speakers involved in what will be a fun and important event,” Danhieux said.
The championship is supported by an on-demand content program, including an ‘opening ceremony’ via video and DevSec talks with other partners from North America, the United Kingdom and Australia from Allianz, Contrast Security, Datacom, Sonatype, and Atlassian.
Alice White, Security Training Manager at Atlassian, will discuss how the organisation’s Culture and Training team is building secure code training and scaling a security champions program.
“Atlassian is delighted to participate in this global tournament. Securing the ecosystem starts with secure code. Baking in security from the beginning also helps ship quality code faster. We are championing this internally through curated and engaging secure development training. Tournaments such as the Devlympics really inspire this developer-led security,” White said.
Klaus-Erdmann Klinger, Security Architect at Allianz, will present a session discussing how the shift from hardware to software effectively means the fate of the world is in developers’ hands.
“Developers are the front line of defence in the new security-conscious world. It is in developers’ hands to ensure our new digital world, this final frontier, will be a safe and secure opportunity for everybody. I wish everyone success and fun in the Secure Code Warrior Devlympics 2021,” Klinger said.
Erik Costlow, Director of Developer Relations at Contrast Security, said, “The best developers I know like having fun while learning something new. Since most developers haven’t been trained on security, the development community needs a good way to build this skill and make it stick. We’re happy to be a part of the Devlympics, addressing the complex topic of ‘security’ in a way that’s easy, fun and worthwhile.”
While coding their way to the top of the leaderboard, participants will also learn secure coding tactics from senior developers and interact with industry experts.
The Devlympics 2021 is open to developers everywhere regardless of secure coding skills and experience, with two levels of competition—one for seasoned developers who are confident in their secure coding skills (Ultimate Warrior) and one for those new to secure coding and students (Champions). Participants will compete to be crowned the ultimate warrior against security superstars from all over the world and win exclusive swag and prizes, with the Devlympics Training Ground open for practice. To register, visit securecodewarrior.com/event/devlympics.
To find out more about how Secure Code Warrior is securing the software that does amazing things in the world, visit securecodewarrior.com