SU Team Earns First Place at HoyaHacks
SALISBURY, MD---Salisbury University students hacked their way to first place at Georgetown University’s 2026 HoyaHacks computer programming competition.
SU juniors Shaun Hoffmann, of Severn, MD, and Diego Zane, of Berlin, MD; and Jungho An ‘22, of Girdletree, MD, programmed through the weekend during the event’s 36-hour challenge, including a mid-competition pivot to virtual due to inclement weather, to build the most innovative, creative, and functional program out of 70 teams.
The SU students’ program, DLLM Checkmate, protects AI apps from hacking by scanning LLM code for vulnerabilities, explaining the risks, suggesting fixes, and storing insights in Snowflake Cortex for security analytics. The program earned the award for Best Use of Snowflake API. The tool was lauded for its potential value to organizations and developers, offering critical preemptive security that saves time, reduces cost, and protects both infrastructure and client data.
“Communication and discipline were a critical component of our strategy,” said Zane. “It was important to remain focused and not deviate from the tasks ahead in order to complete the research, development, and testing in the limited timeframe.
“The majority of startups are incorporating AI, and it’s going to be crucial that they integrate and prioritize protection. We’re hopeful that we can continue expanding this project and play a role in reducing and remediating companies’ vulnerabilities.”
Zane and Hoffmann agreed that SU courses and faculty laid the foundation for SU’s history of programming competition success.
“Faculty at SU really embrace the mentor role,” said Hoffmann. “They want to see you succeed and go out of their way to make you feel supported in what your interests are.”
“From the foundational to upper-level courses, the classes we’ve taken have prepared us to create functional programs that have real-world uses,” said Zane.
Learn more about SU and opportunities to Make Tomorrow Yours at the SU website.