OVHCLOUD X LILLE YNOV CAMPUS: 86 STUDENTS TACKLE A REAL-WORLD CLOUD SECURITY CHALLENGE
OVHCLOUD X LILLE YNOV CAMPUS: 86 STUDENTS TACKLE A REAL-WORLD CLOUD SECURITY CHALLENGE
At OVHcloud, we firmly believe that the best skills are forged under real-world conditions.
On July 6 and 7, 2026, as part of our OVHcloud Education program, we brought together 86 students from Lille Ynov Campus around a challenge our own teams face every day: securing a Kubernetes cluster in production.
Two days, 12 teams, and an AI promoted to the rank of security bodyguard.
THE CHALLENGE: WHAT IF AI COULD PATCH VULNERABILITIES ITSELF?
No theoretical assignments, no textbook exercises. The 3rd-year and Master’s students (Development, Cybersecurity, Infrastructure & Networks) were given a mission directly inspired by the realities of our cloud environments: design a GitOps audit and remediation pipeline on an OVHcloud Managed Kubernetes cluster.
The twist? Generative AI wasn't just acting as a passive assistant, but as an active component in the security chain. The required loop fit into a single line:
Vulnerability detection → AI analysis & proposed fix → Automated Pull Request → Human review → Merge → Argo CD resynchronization → Patched cluster.
All in just two days!
There was only one major constraint: the entire stack had to rely on CNCF projects (Argo CD, Trivy, Falco, Kyverno, Prometheus) and OVHcloud AI Endpoints for the artificial intelligence layer.
TWO DAYS TO UPSKILL, DESIGN AND DEFEND
Some participants were completely new to Kubernetes. On Monday morning, a quick flash session provided them with the fundamentals before the teams dove right in: architecture, development, technical trade-offs, and a countdown to Tuesday evening's presentations : a 10-minute live demo followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.
Evaluation wasn't based on flawless mastery of every single tool, but on the overall methodology: architectural consistency, the ability to collaborate under time constraints, and defending technical choices in front of a panel. Exactly what is expected of a tech team in production.
MENTORSHIP: THE OVHCLOUD TOUCH
Throughout the two days, Aeddis and Loïc mentored the teams alongside Matthieu and Youssef from the Lille Ynov Campus faculty.
Their role: challenge architectural approaches, share real-world field experience… and above all, never give away the answers!
WHAT’S NEXT?
This hackathon is part of our strategy to foster closer ties with higher education institutions: building concrete bridges between campuses and cloud professions. Our employees share their expertise while students get hands-on experience with technologies and challenges they will encounter in internships, work-study programs, or their first jobs.
A huge thank you to Lille Ynov Campus, Matthieu, and Youssef for the organization, to Aeddis and Loïc for their mentorship, and above all to the 86 students for their incredible energy. We look forward to the next one!
Looking to tackle these types of challenges daily? Explore our internship, work-study, and tech career opportunities at careers.ovhcloud.com.