Innovative ideas to prevent cybercrimes in South Africa will be on top of the agenda at the annual Centre for High Performance Computing (CHPC) conference taking place in Pretoria from 3 - 7 December 2017.

Over 30 students from different universities across the country will battle in a cyber security competition This competition creates a platform for students to compete in real-time and come up with ideas that could protect South Africa from cybercrimes. According to the South African Banking Risk Information Centre (SABRIC), South Africa loses over R1 billion each year to cybercrime.

Another competition taking place during the conference is the Student Cluster Competition which gives undergraduate students exposure to the High Performance Computing (HPC) industry. Teams will build small HPC clusters on the exhibition floor from hardware and run a series of benchmarks on their systems. The winning team is entered into the International Supercomputing Conference (ISC) Student Cluster Competition in Germany next year.

The CHPC conference will be held under the theme: “High Performance Computing convergence with novel applications models for better service to research and industry.”

The details of the event are as follow:

Date and time for main conference opening: 4 December 2017 at 08:00 – 11:00

Date and time (Cyber Security Competition): 3 -6  December 2017 at 11:00 – 14:00

Date and time (Student Cluster Competition): 3 - 6 December 2017 at 11:00 – 14:00

Venue: Velmoré Hotel Estate, 96 Main Road, Mooiplaats 355-Jr, Erasmia, Pretoria.

NB: Please note that media registration is compulsory on www.chpcconf.co.za where you will also find more information.

To arrange for any interviews, please contact Mr David Mandaha, CSIR Media Relations Manager on 012 841 3654 or 072 126 8910 or email DMandaha@csir.co.za or contact Ms Kgauhelo Dioka on 012 841 2972/ 073 39 8 8633 or email KDioka@csir.co.za.