On April 4th and 5th, 2025, ROOTKey was present at Hackathon Cybertech, organized by Incubou – Inspiring Valley, in Porto. The event brought together mentors from various fields relevant to cybersecurity including experts in software development, design, marketing, and law to support young people with an entrepreneurial mindset and a clear passion for developing technological solutions. Over two days of intense collaboration, creativity, and knowledge-sharing, participants were challenged to design innovative solutions in the field of cybersecurity, with a strong educational and social component.
Highlighted Projects
The ideas presented by the teams showed remarkable sensitivity to today’s cybersecurity challenges, with a special focus on digital education for vulnerable audiences, such as youth and seniors. Among the projects developed, we highlight:
Educational phishing game for teens (ages 13–17)
A gamified app designed to teach teenagers how to identify and avoid phishing attacks. The solution was intended for implementation in schools, raising awareness among students about online risks from an early age.
Cybersecurity education app for seniors
Targeted at older generations, this app used traditional games such as crossword puzzles as a gateway to cybersecurity content, anticipating a future increase in senior engagement with mobile technologies.
Real-time phishing alert system using a traffic light model
A real-time protection app for senior users, running in the background of the phone and assessing the risk level of accessed pages and messages. It displayed green (safe), yellow (suspicious), or red (dangerous) alerts with red leading to automatic content blocking.
Cybersecurity learning platform
An educational platform focused on known vulnerabilities and defense practices, aimed at university students and independent cybersecurity enthusiasts.
ROOTKey’s Role
ROOTKey participated as a multidisciplinary mentoring team, providing support in the areas of:
 1 - Software development and engineering
 2 - UI/UX design
 3 - Marketing and strategic positioning
 4 - Entrepreneurship and product development
Throughout the mentoring sessions, we supported the participants by:
 1 - Helping align each solution with its most relevant target audience
 2 - Identifying and resolving technical issues
 3 - Refining value propositions and original ideas
 4 - Adjusting usability and visual components according to user profiles
Key Learnings
- Human-centered solutions have the greatest impact The most successful teams were those that placed users at the heart of their ideas, understanding their needs, limitations, and usage contexts.
- Communication is just as important as technology Clearly and compellingly communicating an idea proved essential during the final pitches.
- Mentoring is about facilitating reflection not just providing answers The most significant breakthroughs occurred when we helped teams ask the right questions and rethink how they approached their projects.
- Portugal’s tech ecosystem is growing and it’s in good hands Seeing young entrepreneurs tackle complex problems with creativity and responsibility left us feeling optimistic about the future.
Conclusion
Being present at Hackathon Cybertech was more than a mentorship exercise it was a reaffirmation of ROOTKey’s values: ethics, innovation, trust, and real impact. We believe the future of digital security is built through hands-on action, and this event was a clear example of that.
We extend our thanks to Incubou, the participants, and everyone involved for creating such an inspiring and collaborative environment. We remain committed to developing secure, human-centric, and relevant solutions, and to supporting initiatives that foster responsible innovation.