RaiseNow at GOHack 24 – Hack for Good

At this year's GOHack 2024 , we had the opportunity to test our RaiseNow Hub and Koalect platforms in a very special way: over the course of two days, so-called "friendly" or ethical hackers took a close look at our systems. The aim was to find vulnerabilities in order to further strengthen security for our customers and partners. But that's not all: for every vulnerability successfully discovered in our platforms, a donation was made to Save the Children Switzerland.

This is Save the Children

Save the Children campaigns for the rights of children worldwide, giving them a healthy start in life, access to education and protection from violence. In Switzerland, the organization offers refugee children safe spaces where they can play, learn and grow.

"Children show remarkable resilience, even in the most difficult circumstances. The donation from the GOHack event gives us the opportunity to help even more children in Switzerland and around the world - through protection, education and support so that they can simply be children.

A proud CHF 5,000 for children in need

This year's donation to Save the Children amounts to an impressive CHF 5,000, made up of the bug findings from the RaiseNow and Koalect Challenges and the generous gesture of one participant who donated his entire winnings to Save the Children. GObugfree, our partner and event organizer, rounded up the donation - a gesture that moved us a lot and shows how much commitment there is in the ethical hacker community.

Progress and valuable learnings

Our CTO Raphael was on site and was delighted with the opportunity to interact directly with the ethical hacker community. His impressions:

• Progress in security at RaiseNow: This year, RaiseNow found significantly fewer vulnerabilities with low criticality. This proves the effectiveness of our bug bounty programs, as in the previous year many more vulnerabilities were discovered.

• Optimization through learnings: Although there were more findings with our Koalect platform, it is precisely findings like these that help us to continuously improve our products.

• Community exchange: The event offered the opportunity to get in direct contact with hackers from the community, to better understand how they work and to gain valuable insights into their approaches.
  
  

Conclusion: Security and social impact combined

For us, GOHack 2024 is an impressive example of how technical expertise and social commitment can go hand in hand. With the support of the hacker community, we were not only able to increase the security of our platforms, but also make an important contribution to helping children in need.

We are proud to have made a difference together with GObugfree and the ethical hacker community. A big thank you to everyone who took part and to Save the Children for their tireless work!