On Saturday, November 9, 2019, MTN Nigeria hosted the debut edition of ‘Telco Hack Day’ at the Onikan Youth Centre, Lagos.

The event aimed at supporting and showcasing the best local tech talents attracted ethical hackers from across the country to participate in a competitive stress test and profiling of select digital products.

Participants were given four hours to attempt hacking select service and platform of choice. Each participant presented their findings to a panel of tech experts including Senior Manager IT Governance & Compliance, MTN Nigeria, Oladimeji Joseph; Senior Manager, Technology Security and Network Audit, MTN Nigeria, Simon Jude Nmaiye and Senior Manager, IP Network Planning, MTN Nigeria, Ayodeji Subair.

Speaking at the event, Chief Innovation Officer (CIO), MTN Nigeria, Olubayo Adekambi said, “the Telco Hack Day is a proactive platform by MTN to co-create the future with super-users of our products, to show us areas we can leverage and improve upon in order to deliver the best value to our customers.

A participant at the event, Ekemini William said: “I’m really excited to be here, seeing many of my peers. Based in Uyo, I’d not met half as many people as I have today, that’s the most beautiful thing about the Telco Hack Day for me.”

Ethical hacking, as a profession is budding, recording a 21% year-on-year growth worldwide and representing a $12bn industry. MTN Nigeria aims to pioneer the growth of this sector locally by supporting and developing local tech talents that can become global exports in the near future.”

At the end of the event, 17 individuals were unanimously selected by the judges based on their performance and offered an opportunity to join the MTN Nigeria Quality Assurance Panel. Over a period of 12 months, they will be required to perform vulnerability checks in order to create more secure products and platforms, thereby increasing the overall experience for MTN customers.