01 · Learn
Learner Mode
Complete the structured OWASP Top 10 curriculum. Attack vulnerable applications, understand why the attacks work, repair the code, and prove your fixes hold.
MilestoneComplete the required foundation and enter the internship.
An application-security internship for software developers.
Build secure software.
Leave with real experience.
Hackalot is a project-based application-security internship for software developers who need experience, are between roles, or want to move from general software engineering toward security.
Before you can begin the internship, you must complete Hackalot’s required OWASP Top 10 curriculum.
Then you enter Developer Mode and contribute to hackalot/tools with structure and support. After gaining experience on real projects, you create a personal capstone that proves you can apply security thinking independently. Pass it to complete the core program—or keep contributing afterward if more experience would help.
Learn. Contribute. Create your own project. Keep building if you need it.
🔍 Hack
💡 Learn to Hack
⚡ Hack Again
📚 Learn to Fix
🛠️ Fix It
🛡️ Hack and Fail
🧠 Debrief
No cybersecurity experience required. Software development experience is expected.
Here's a real vulnerable app. See what you can find.
Mission
Johnny says a strange ticket reply made the staff page “blink.” Reproduce it without being told what the app is trusting.
POST /tickets/318/replies
body=<img src=x onerror=signal()>
⚡
Signal captured.
Your reply became code in the staff browser.
But that's not where the lesson ends. Now let's understand why.
💡 Hackalot lesson
Stored Cross-Site Scripting
The app saved ordinary customer text, then inserted it into a staff page as HTML. The browser could not distinguish the app's markup from the markup supplied in your reply.
The dangerous behavior happened later, in another person's browser—which is why stored XSS can feel like setting a trap.
Knowing the mistake isn't enough. Learn the fix, then apply it.
🛠️ Fix it yourself
Treat replies as text at the output boundary. You choose the real patch, apply it to the app, and keep normal messages working while browser instructions become harmless characters.
- render_html(reply.body)
+ render_text(escape(reply.body))
Your fix is live. Time to try to break it — and hope you fail.
Verify
We replay your original exploit against your own fix — and confirm the real feature still works.
Original payload
BLOCKED ✓
Normal reply
WORKS ✓
🏆 Lesson complete
Stored XSS — cleared.
You hacked it, proved it wasn't a fluke on a second app, learned the fix, applied it yourself, and watched your own attack fail. That's the whole loop — debriefed and done.
Next up: a blind mission with new territory
→A progression from learning to independence
Learn. Contribute. Create.
Keep building if you need it.
The curriculum prepares you to enter the internship. Guided work on hackalot/tools gives you real experience before the personal capstone asks you to create an original project independently.
02 · Contribute
Internship begins
Join Developer Mode and contribute to public hackalot/tools projects with application-security requirements, testing, write-ups, and attribution.
MilestoneBuild experience with real constraints before creating independently.
03 · Create
Personal capstone
Create original software of your own and demonstrate how security shaped the design, development process, testing, and final result.
MilestonePass the capstone to complete the core program.
04 · Optional
Keep building
After passing the capstone, leave with a complete body of work or remain in Developer Mode and contribute to more tools for as long as it remains useful.
MilestoneMore projects, stronger references, and additional evidence when you need it.
Required preparation for the internship
Before you contribute to real projects, prove you understand the risks.
Learner Mode is the mandatory preparation phase for the internship. You hack a vulnerable application, understand why the attack worked, prove the pattern transfers, learn the defensive principle, fix real code, and attack your own repair. Completing that loop builds the foundation you need before joining Developer Mode.
1. Try to break it
Hack
A realistic vulnerable app, a mission, and real documentation — what the app does, where to look, what tools to use. No failed attempts, no penalty for not figuring it out. Hints are there if you want them.
2. See why it worked
Learn to Hack
We walk through the attack you just attempted: what was vulnerable, what the app trusted that it shouldn't have, and what this class of bug is actually called.
3. Prove it transfers
Hack Again
The same vulnerability, in a meaningfully different app — different UI, different data, different narrative. This time success matters, and we track whether you needed docs, hints, or a full walkthrough — no shame either way.
4. Learn the fix, not the line
Learn to Fix
Before you touch any code, we teach the defensive principle behind the fix — the idea that generalizes to other languages and frameworks, not just one snippet to paste.
5. Apply it yourself
Fix It
Now you make the change. Knowing the fix and actually applying it are different skills, and this is where you prove the second one.
6. Aim to fail, on purpose
Hack and Fail
Attack your own fixed app with your original exploit. It shouldn't work anymore. We also check that a real customer can still use the feature normally — a secure app isn't one where you disabled everything.
Last comes 🧠 Debrief — a short, real conversation about what just happened. Not a quiz along the way, the actual mastery check: if your old exploit fails against your fix, a real customer can still use the app normally, and you can explain why, you've completed the lesson.
Not a flag hunt
We're not teaching you to capture flags.
We're teaching you to understand vulnerabilities.
Capture-the-flag challenges can be fun. But finding a secret string isn't the same thing as understanding why real software was vulnerable. Because in the real world, "I hacked it" isn't the complete skill. Knowing why it broke — and how to make sure it doesn't break that way again — is.
Security training shouldn't end at the exploit
The usual challenge loop
teaches you to move on too quickly.
Read for hours first
Several pages of writeups on general topics, terminology for things you don't conceptually understand yet — then, eventually, you get to touch something hands-on.
Capture the flag
Find the hidden string, submit it, get the points, move to the next challenge.
Treat exploitation as the victory
You proved you can get in. But do you understand why you could?
Leave the vulnerability behind
Never touch the vulnerable code or learn what the developer should have done differently.
Memorize one-off tricks
Learn a payload for one contrived target without learning the pattern you'll need to recognize somewhere else.
Hackalot: the whole lifecycle
Experiment, understand, exploit deliberately, patch the real problem, then attack your own fix.
Don't just learn how to get in. Learn why you got in — and how to keep someone else out.
The required internship curriculum
Learn the OWASP Top 10 by breaking — and fixing — real applications.
Web security is enormous. Hackalot intentionally doesn’t try to cover every vulnerability or technique ever discovered. Our curriculum is designed around the OWASP Top 10:2025 — the industry’s recognized awareness standard for the most critical web application security risks.
By the end of the curriculum, you’ll be able to name and explain all ten categories, give multiple examples of each, and describe how developers can prevent them.
Read the official OWASP Top 10:2025- A01Broken Access Control
- A02Security Misconfiguration
- A03Software Supply Chain Failures
- A04Cryptographic Failures
- A05Injection
- A06Insecure Design
- A07Authentication Failures
- A08Software or Data Integrity Failures
- A09Security Logging and Alerting Failures
- A10Mishandling of Exceptional Conditions
Hackalot is independently developed and is not affiliated with or endorsed by OWASP. OWASP and OWASP Top 10 are trademarks of the OWASP Foundation.
Training should lead somewhere
The goal is not to keep you doing labs forever.
Most cybersecurity learning products are built around an expanding catalog: another lab, another path, another subscription tier, or another certification. PortSwigger Academy is free, but its learning experience sits inside the Burp Suite ecosystem, where paid Burp software and certification are natural next steps.
Those resources can still be useful. The difference is where Hackalot is trying to take you: out of Learner Mode and into an application-security internship where you build, test, document, and publish real software.
The learning-platform loop
Keep consuming training
Large libraries continually add labs and learning paths. The commercial next step is often another subscription, a paid certification, or deeper use of the company’s software ecosystem.
What progress looks likeMore content completed, more credentials earned, and more platform-specific practice.
The hackalot pathway
Qualify, then contribute
Complete a finite OWASP Top 10 curriculum, enter Developer Mode, gain experience on public software, then prove your independence through an original personal capstone.
What progress looks likeSecure code, tested projects, attributed case studies, professional references, and work you can explain in an interview.
No paid tools requiredEverything required is built into Hackalot or freely available, so your skills never depend on an expensive security product.
Your $250 monthly payment covers the complete pathway, not an endless course catalog. That is about $8.33 per day in a 30-day month. The price stays the same when you move into the internship, and you can remain in Developer Mode for as long as it continues to help you build experience.
Hackalot is designed to move you forward. Learn the required foundation, prove it through real work, and leave with the judgment and evidence to build better software with security in mind.
Built for developers in transition
Need experience? Between roles?
Moving toward security?
Developers who need experience
Move beyond tutorials by building real software, testing its security, and producing evidence you can explain in an interview.
Developers between roles
Turn time after a layoff or between jobs into structured learning, public projects, attributed case studies, and recent experience.
Software engineers moving into security
Add an application-security specialty to your existing development skills without starting over in a different profession.
Engineering careers in 2026
Being able to code is the baseline.
A specialty makes you memorable.
Competition for software roles is fierce. A broad engineering foundation still matters, but it can be difficult to stand out when every candidate lists the same languages and frameworks. Application security gives you a valuable specialty without asking you to stop being a software engineer.
You become the developer who can build the feature, see how its assumptions might be abused, and design a safer version before it reaches production.
Broad cybersecurity training
Built primarily for security roles
Many cybersecurity programs prepare learners for work in areas such as security operations, networks, incident response, or governance.
Application-security training
Relevant on both sides of the code
AppSec builds on software-development skills, positioning you for application-security opportunities and software-engineering roles where secure development is an advantage.
What employers are signaling
Security knowledge is moving closer to the code.
The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs 2025 employer survey ranks networks and cybersecurity among the fastest-growing skills and finds that programming helps distinguish growing roles from declining ones.
That overlap is also built into the NIST NICE Cybersecurity Workforce Framework: its Secure Software Development work role can apply to software engineers, coders, and application developers. Meanwhile, a Linux Foundation and OpenSSF survey found that 28% of software-development professionals were not familiar with secure development practices.
The practical signal: development teams benefit from engineers who understand security, while application-security teams benefit from people who can read, write, test, and reason about real code.
That flexibility matters to me personally—and it is especially useful in today’s tech economy. My own career spans cybersecurity and software development. When hiring priorities shift, being able to pursue opportunities in both disciplines gives you more ways to keep moving forward instead of being limited to one path.
Application security market growth
More software means more opportunity—and more software to secure.
Industry forecasts vary, but they point in the same direction: organizations are investing heavily in application security as software becomes more central to how they operate.
2025 estimate
$15.91B
Estimated global application-security market size.
2033 projection
$53.25B
Projected global market size if the forecast holds.
Projected growth
16.3% CAGR
SkyQuest’s projected compound annual growth rate for 2026–2033.
More persistent threats
More frequent and complex attacks are pushing organizations to find and prevent weaknesses earlier.
More software dependence
Cloud services, APIs, web applications, and digital products create more critical software that must be designed securely.
More accountability
Privacy, data-protection, and industry requirements make secure development a business responsibility—not an optional extra.
SkyQuest projects growth from $15.91 billion in 2025 to $53.25 billion by 2033. Read the SkyQuest forecast. A separate Fortune Business Insights forecast estimates growth from $13.00 billion in 2025 to $43.28 billion by 2034, at a 14.3% CAGR. Market growth cannot guarantee anyone a job, but it does show why the ability to build and secure software is becoming more valuable.
The experience catch-22
You need experience to get the job.
You need the job to get experience.
Courses can teach you concepts, but interviews ask for evidence: What did you build? Which security decisions did you make? How did you test them? What changed when something failed? Hackalot is designed to help you cross that gap with work you can show and explain.
Learn the foundation
Complete the structured OWASP curriculum and practice thinking from both the attacker’s and developer’s perspective.
Contribute to real software
Move from guided lessons into hackalot/tools projects used by real people, with application-security requirements, testing, and support.
Create your capstone
Use that experience to create original software and an interview-ready case study that demonstrates your independent reasoning.
Learner Mode → Developer Mode
Finish the course.
Start building real software.
After you complete the required curriculum, you can enter our unpaid, project-based Developer Mode internship. You begin by contributing to hackalot/tools with defined work, real users, application-security requirements, and support before you are asked to create an independent capstone.
Your subscription and recurring price stay exactly the same—there is no separate internship fee. You will contribute to public software, investigate security problems, and help grow Hackalot through public education while building concrete evidence of what you can contribute in a software role.
Build hackalot/tools
Help create free software for developer and cybersecurity communities. Apply application-security concepts throughout the work, then write and run security tests to verify the result. Your project will appear on the hackalot/tools page with attribution to you.
Document and share the work
Turn projects into attributed case studies and posts about security and software development, then help share them through social media so useful ideas and tools reach more people.
Build toward independence
Use guided contributions and feedback to develop the judgment, planning, security-testing, and communication skills you will need to create your personal capstone.
Walk away with proof
Build real projects used by real people, backed by published case studies, professional references with a real name, phone number, and email, plus employment verification when requested.
The internship gives you practice before the capstone asks you to prove independence.
Core milestone · Your project
Contribute first.
Then build something that is yours.
After gaining experience through hackalot/tools, you will propose and create a personal capstone: original software that you choose, design, and build. It is separate from hackalot/tools and does not have to be a cybersecurity product. What matters is that the security principles you learned and practiced shape your development process from the beginning.
Choose your own project
Build software around a problem, community, or idea that matters to you. The product itself does not need to be security-related.
Think about security throughout
Identify threats and trust boundaries, document your security decisions, and revisit those decisions as the design and code evolve.
Test as you build
Write and run security tests throughout development—not only at the end—and demonstrate that your protections work without breaking the product.
Present the evidence
Publish a capstone write-up explaining the software, architecture, security risks, decisions, tests, results, tradeoffs, and lessons learned.
Passing the capstone completes the core program. You leave with public contributions, original personal software, and a written case study you can show, explain, and defend in an interview.
Need more experience? Stay in Developer Mode and continue contributing to hackalot/tools for as long as the additional work remains useful to you.
Meet the founder
Hi, I’m Xander.
I work as both a cybersecurity professional and a software developer.
Hackalot is the natural blend I created from both disciplines. It is for developers who want to learn application security, apply it directly through software development, and create real evidence that helps them become more hireable.
I know how difficult that gap can be. I struggled for years to build the right experience before finally landing a job. I created Hackalot to offer what I wish I had then: a structured AppSec foundation, real development work, and portfolio evidence you can confidently explain to an employer.
Education plus experience
Bring the education.
Build the experience.
Many employers look for a combination of education and practical experience. If you have completed—or are actively pursuing—a STEM-related degree, you can start Hackalot right away. There is no application or waiting period. The program helps you turn that academic foundation into original software, documented security decisions, and work you can discuss in interviews.
Before you start
A STEM degree—completed or in progress
You must have completed—or be actively pursuing—a STEM-related degree and have a working foundation in software development. Your education provides the technical base; Hackalot helps you turn it into practical, security-minded development experience.
The career investment
$1,500 at the average six-month pace
At $250 per month, six months comes to $1,500—a fraction of the cost of most degrees and bootcamps. Hackalot builds on the education you are already pursuing or have already paid for by helping you produce practical experience and work you can show employers.
Haven’t started a degree?
Research your education options first.
Hackalot’s founder attended Grand Canyon University’s online software development program and had a positive experience there. It may be one useful option to include in your research.
That is the founder’s personal experience, not an endorsement or education recommendation. Hackalot is not affiliated with Grand Canyon University. You are free to choose the university and qualifying STEM-related program that best suits your goals, circumstances, and budget; Grand Canyon University is not required to join Hackalot.
Don’t just learn application security.
Use it on software people depend on.
Complete the curriculum, contribute to real projects, create your personal capstone, and keep building if more experience would help.