Ho Ho Hackathon @ H-BRS

Project 1: Secure Paste Bin "PastaPaste"
The first project resulted in a secure, access-restricted paste bin system. The application used OAuth 2.0 for authentication and enabled logins via external identity providers such as GitHub, Google or a locally operated Keycloak server. A key design principle was end-to-end encryption: all content was encrypted and decrypted exclusively on the client side, so that the server had no access to plain text data. The backend component was implemented as a zero-knowledge service using Flask and was put into productive operation during the hackathon.
 

Project 2: Bluetooth-Low-Energy-Sniffer

The second project group implemented a Bluetooth Low Energy sniffer using Scapy in combination with Ubertooth hardware. A graphical user interface was developed to analyse the recorded BLE frames, enabling structured evaluation of the packets. The high number of BLE frames recorded was remarkable: despite it being a weekend shortly before the Christmas holidays, there was unexpectedly high radio activity on campus.
 

Project 3: Post-Quantum-Schlüsselaustausch für ShockBurst

The third project group implemented a post-quantum key exchange for the 2.4 GHz ShockBurst radio technology. ML-KEM was used as the cryptographic basis. The demonstration was carried out on the nRF52832-DK hardware platform. Despite the platform's limited resources, the PQC algorithms were successfully executed. The project provided valuable insights into the practical feasibility and performance limits of post-quantum secure cryptography on embedded systems.

Conclusion
The hackathon combined practical implementations with current topics such as zero-knowledge systems, radio analysis and post-quantum cryptography, while also strengthening professional and personal exchange. The format was also convincing across the board in terms of organisation.

A similar event was held in July of this year as part of a course in the Master's programme in Cybersecurity & Privacy. We would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone involved in making this hackathon possible and helping to organise it.