"Diverse teams can often receive better results than homogeneous teams" - That was the approach for the AIHackathon4Diversity end of October in Berlin. Seven teams with members from different backgrounds, ages, gender, religion, disabilities, education, sexual orientation or other individual aspects had around 24 hours to face the #cybersecurity challenge and to program together.
The Data Intelligence Hub of Deutsche Telekom collected data of so-called honeypots, i.e. digital traps on the internet with which attackers are intended to be attracted. Those honeypots were then provided to the teams via our platform. The question: Which interesting findings can be drawn from this centrally collected data of the honeypot recordings. Using machine learning (a special field in AI), extracts of the honeypot data should have been analyzed as part of the hackathon in order to detect new attack patterns or classify attack groups. Ideally, this should have helped to identify high-quality attacks that stand out from the mass of widespread, automated attacks.
The great challenge on top was to find a team with at least two different nationalities, different technical backgrounds as well as mixed gender and age.
Empowering Diversity
Due to time constraints and meeting new teammates for the first time, it was not easy to discuss the different perspectives and to achieve the target in time. One team answered this question better than any other: Team “green” won the challenge with their architecture solution approach. “Not only the analysis was overwhelming after 24 hours, but also the development of the teambuilding process”, said André Vorbach from the mentoring team. Rohid Kumar from Avira, also mentoring colleague, added: “The winning team took our guideline really seriously and tried to adjust their presentation to it very professionally”.
All seven teams mastered the challenge. The jury was overwhelmed after the final pitch. No matter who was on the podium in the end, being part of it and feeling the spirit and creative power was the decisive factor for the more than 50 participants of the Hackathon. After the 24-hour marathon, Kenza Aid Si Abbou Lyadini, organizer of the event and herself enthusiastic Robotics & AI expert, pointed to a positive outcome all round. Our mood video shows some of these exciting moments and exhausted but happy faces.
