Calicut HackNight’23 Winners
Innovative ideas and intense creativity took centerstage at HackNight’23 organized by QBurst Calicut on July 28, 2023.
The dusk-to-dawn hackathon featured a Spot Event and Main Event. For the Spot Event, participants were required to create a bot capable of coding using machine learning or large language models. The Main Event consisted of three levels that tested participants’ skills in cryptography, hacking, and coding. The participants had to solve a set of challenges at each level to advance to the next. The challenges included cracking complex puzzles, securing networks, etc.
A total of 22 teams brought diverse perspectives and expertise to the highly contested event. After an intense 12 hours, the following teams emerged as winners:
| Position | Team Name | Team Members |
| 1st | Team K | Shifas Thykandy, Milin Joseph, Akhil Kuttipuram, Akshai Raj, Anandu M Das, Athul Jayson |
| 405 Found | Faatimah Batool, Revathy N E, Shilpa Ramadas, Hiba Mariyam, Ahammed Razal | |
| 2nd | Always Reboot | Adhil Mohammed, Amarnath K, Ashish M, Sanoop C, Vishnu Pradeep, Arun Puthen |
| Django | Sayyid Nabhan KP, Varadalakshmi Nambiar, Athul Devin, Arun Avilary, Abhijith K, Arjun Pournami | |
| 3rd | LOLgicians | Hariprasad P, Harshith Kumar A, Abhinav TP, Mithun Vijay, Vishnu Prabhakaran, Karthik Kunhikannan |
The winners of the first, second, and third positions will be awarded Rs. 20,000, Rs. 15,000, and Rs. 10,000 respectively. Individual participants from other teams won special mentions. They include Jumwain Thahir from Topgun, Dersana Krishnan from Hacksmiths, Alvin Ajith from Webwizards, and Muhamed Musammil from Flash.
More Than a HackNight
During the Main Event, the hackers were tasked with exploiting vulnerabilities such as SQL injection and remote code execution. These helped demonstrate how seemingly minor mistakes could lead to catastrophic damages in real-world scenarios. The event also explored the development potential of large language models.