Veracode, Inc., the leader in cloud-based application security testing, hosted its second annual “Hackathon” giving its Development & Research teams the ability to create and execute any project of their interest. The Hackathon gives participating employees a three day hiatus from their normal workday responsibilities to devote company time entirely to a project of their own choosing, with the incentive that some projects may actually become Veracode products and services.

During the weeks leading up to Hackathon, employees used a combination of whiteboards and the internal wiki to start brainstorming their project ideas. In the inaugural 2011 event, 10 boards were filled and over 65 ideas were posted. After a brief opening ceremony, participants break up into teams of similar interests to begin tackling projects. This year, projects fell within several categories, including customer & internal product improvements, engineering exploration and skill building, and general technology exploration. At the conclusion of the Hackathon, The Veracode Product Team reviews all of the demos to determine which features and improvements may fit within the company’s product plan.

“We are continuously amazed at the energy, enthusiasm and ingenuity that everyone put into their projects. Our expectations have been far exceeded,” says Veracode CEO Bob Brennan. “Our Hackathons are part of our DNA at Veracode. By giving everyone the chance to take work hours to work on projects of their interest, we hoped to stress Veracode’s commitment to creativity and passion.”

After the initial kick-off, participants form teams around similar interests, and are free to work on their projects for the next three days wherever and however they like. On day three, demos are unveiled, and the entire company is invited to watch what the teams had worked on. This year, over 80 employees attended the demo session, where 32 projects were exhibited by 45 employees.

At the conclusion of the event, Veracode awarded some of the most outstanding and memorable projects with the Tastiest Hack, Don't Push that Button, Loudest Hack and Hack to the Future! awards. This year’s award for Best Hack went to security researcher, Ryan O’Boyle, for his music and mood aggregator, a centralized playlist count for all Veracode employees that tracks who is listening to what, when and how much. Additionally, the aggregator pulls tweets from Twitter to detect the “mood” at the company.

To explore this year’s Hackathon further, visit the Veracode blog to see pictures of the event, as well as some of the projects that people worked on.

About Veracode

Veracode is the only independent provider of cloud-based application intelligence and security verification services. The Veracode platform provides the fastest, most comprehensive solution to improve the security of internally developed, purchased or outsourced software applications and third-party components. By combining patented static, dynamic and manual testing, extensive eLearning capabilities, and advanced application analytics, Veracode enables scalable, policy-driven application risk management programs that help identify and eradicate numerous vulnerabilities by leveraging best-in-class technologies from vulnerability scanning to penetration testing and static code analysis. Veracode delivers unbiased proof of application security to stakeholders across the software supply chain while supporting independent audit and compliance requirements for all applications no matter how they are deployed, via the web, mobile or in the cloud. Veracode works with customers in more than 80 countries worldwide representing Global 2000 brands. For more information, visit www.veracode.com, follow on Twitter: @Veracode or read the Veracode Blog.