ADNOC Hackathon Tests UAE Government Cyber Specialists on a Simulated Power Grid

The competition was hosted by ADNOC with the UAE Cyber Security Council under its CyberAware programme, and was designed and run by Abu Dhabi-based Exploit3rs Cybersecurity Academy, according to the state news agency WAM. More than 400 government cybersecurity staff registered, and its focus was energy-sector security and AI-assisted cyber threats.

For energy operators the exercise reflects a practical concern: the control systems that run grids and plants are becoming targets as more of their operations are digitised, and governments need staff who can find weaknesses before attackers do.

Exploit3rs built a virtual training environment called HELIOS for the event. It mimics the technical and operational layout of a power network, with a virtual grid control centre, industrial control systems and internal networks, seeded with vulnerabilities planted for the exercise. Each finalist received a separate copy of the network, isolated from other competitors and from any live operational system.

The individual challenge had ten linked stages covering network analysis, vulnerability discovery, digital forensics, reverse engineering and the security of industrial control systems. The top three finishers each cleared nine of the ten stages. Saif Al Zaabi took first place, Diyab Al Zaabi second and Rawda Al Hosani third, and they were honoured at a ceremony at ADNEC on November 5.

Online qualifiers ran from October 12 to 15 and included eight practical challenges. Twenty-three competitors qualified and 22 took part in the final. Exploit3rs ran the whole process, from registration to live scoring, on its own Hacking Dungeon platform.

Juma Al Shamsi, founder and chief executive of Exploit3rs, said each finalist was given a complete, independent virtual grid running industrial technology similar to real systems and four hours to work from outside access through to its internal components. He said every flaw the participants found and exploited gave them hands-on experience in spotting and fixing weaknesses in the systems they are responsible for protecting.