Inspiration
One of the most important and vital tasks in our digital world is digital communication. However, in order to raise awareness of this issue, we created a website to aid in the creation of something raising awareness and teaching a simplified version of digital security. Instead of making social media, or something similar, we made an educational project that would educate children and can be an effective teaching tool.
What it does
It's a simple messaging project that allows users to hack any of their contacts. This enables the user to access the sender's data without the sender's knowledge. To combat this, the sender's only option is to encrypt the data with a number. To view the message, the hacker must first break through cipher encryption.
How we built it
The server was hosted using the express library (in Node.js), and the client was built using HTML, CSS, and Javascript. We also used Node.js' ws (WebSockets) to establish a connection between the server and the client.
Challenges we ran into
This was one of our first experiences with Node.js or a large-scale javascript project. This was also the first time we had worked together on a hackathon. We struggled to learn the new functions because we were both new to Node.js, and we both needed to research Node.js and WebSockets before beginning the project. One of the most technical issues we encountered was connecting one client to another. This was a difficult problem to solve because WebSockets only connect the client and the server. We were able to resolve this issue by creating an array of web sockets and iterating through them to connect two clients.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud to have completed a messaging website, as well as our first hackathon and collaboration project. We are also proud to have created a project that can be used to teach children about digital security and encryption.
What we learned
Through such a complex project, we realized the value of debugging tools and learned to appreciate them. We also learned how to host websites with Node.js and how WebSockets work.
What's next for Hacking Messaging App
After the hackathon, we will continue to fix bugs and issues with the website in order to create a more finished product. We also intend to create a mobile version of this website so that it can be used more easily in a school or classroom setting to teach about digital security.
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