As both the cyberattack cause and cure, ever-expanding AI has been transforming cybersecurity from both sides of the battlefield. Organizations increasingly use AI to detect threats and automate security operations, but just as rapidly, attackers are also adopting AI to generate malware, accelerate phishing campaigns, and probe systems at scale.

As cyber threats evolve, cybersecurity education must evolve with them. Accordingly, future security engineers need more than theoretical knowledge — they need hands-on experience building and defending modern cloud environments against increasingly intelligent attacks.

This was the exact goal of the recent OVHcloud x EPITA Rennes SecDevOps Hackathon. Students spent three days developing cloud-native security solutions designed for an AI-driven threat landscape, helping train the next generation of tech talent.

Why AI is changing cybersecurity education

Traditional cybersecurity education often focuses on known attack patterns or defensive tools in isolation. But today’s security teams are operating in a very different reality.

Analysts now work across AI-assisted detection systems, cloud-native infrastructure, threat intelligence platforms, and automated incident response workflows. At the same time, attackers are using AI to automate reconnaissance, generate convincing phishing content, and adapt their techniques faster.

Preparing students for this environment means moving beyond classroom theory. They need realistic infrastructure, collaborative development, and hands-on security engineering under real technical constraints.

That is where hackathons can make the difference: they push students to solve practical cybersecurity problems in conditions much closer to the ones they will face in the field.

Building cloud-native security solutions

As part of the OVHcloud Education program, students from EPITA Rennes’ SecDevOps major were given access to OVHcloud Public Cloud infrastructure alongside AI credits and development resources. Working in teams, they designed, tested, and deployed solutions capable of addressing emerging cybersecurity challenges while operating in production-like cloud environments. Rather than focusing on theoretical concepts, every project tackled practical problems security teams increasingly encounter today.

Rethinking cyberdefense in the age of AI

Several projects reflected how defensive security is evolving alongside AI:

MIR[AI]GE: turning AI attackers against themselves

Awarded Best Technical Project, MIR[AI]GE explored a proactive approach to defending against autonomous AI attacks.

Instead of simply blocking malicious activity, the platform detects offensive AI agents and redirects them into isolated honeypot containers filled with realistic — but entirely fake — data.

The objective is not only to stop the attack but also to waste the attacker’s computing resources while gathering valuable behavioral information.

As AI-generated attacks become more sophisticated, deception technologies like honeypots are becoming increasingly valuable components of modern cyberdefense strategies.

Find out more: miraige.vercel.app

Honeymind: threat intelligence from attacker behavior

Winner of the Best Presentation Award, Honeymind focused on generating actionable threat intelligence.

The team developed an internet-facing honeypot capable of analyzing attacker requests before enriching the collected data with AI, improving deception techniques and producing insights that security operations teams could use during incident response.

Projects like this demonstrate how AI can support defenders — not only by automating analysis but by making security systems themselves more adaptive.

Discover the repository: github.com/al2al85/HoneyMind

Other innovative approaches

Other teams explored complementary security challenges:

Winnie developed a bounce honeypot that guides attackers through AI-generated environments inspired by the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

Meanwhile, SRE-squad created an assistant designed for SOC analysts, helping correlate logs with operational runbooks and prioritize alerts in environments increasingly flooded with AI-generated attack traffic.

Together, these projects illustrate how future security professionals are beginning to combine cloud infrastructure, automation, and AI into practical defensive workflows.

What organizations can learn

While the hackathon centered on students, the technologies they explored mirror challenges many organizations already face.

Modern cybersecurity increasingly relies on:

• Cloud-native security architectures
• Threat intelligence pipelines
• AI-assisted analysis
• Deception technologies such as honeypots
• Automated security operations

As these capabilities become mainstream, organizations will need engineers who understand both software development and security engineering — the core principles behind SecDevOps.

Providing students with opportunities to build these systems today helps the next generation of cybersecurity professionals prepare for tomorrow’s threats.

Supporting the next generation of security engineers

The OVHcloud Education program aims to bridge academic learning with real-world cloud engineering by giving students access to production-grade infrastructure and practical technical challenges.

The hackathon also offered members of the winning teams a fast-track interview with OVHcloud’s technical recruitment teams for their end-of-studies internships.

A special thank you goes to Gabin, Lucas, and Magali, whose mentorship and expertise helped make this year’s event a success.

If you’re ready to turn AI cybersecurity training into a career, explore opportunities on the OVHcloud Careers site. And if your institution would like to organize a hackathon with the OVHcloud Education program, we’d love to hear from you.

For IT leaders, the important question is not whether blockchain is “the next big thing.” 

The question is actually much simpler: where and how does this technology solve real problems better than conventional architectures?

To answer that, let’s begin with the fundamentals.

What blockchain really is, and how it works

A blockchain is a distributed database made up of blocks of data linked together in chronological order. Each new block contains information about transactions or events, along with a cryptographic reference to the previous block. This creates an auditable chain of records that is extremely difficult to alter retrospectively.

Unlike a traditional database, which is generally administered by one organisation, a blockchain is maintained collectively by participants in the network. Copies of the ledger are distributed across multiple systems, helping to ensure synchronisation, resilience and transparency.

When a transaction is submitted to a blockchain network, it is checked according to the rules of that network. Once validated, it is added to a block and propagated across the network so that participants agree on the updated state of the ledger. This agreement process is known as consensus.

The result is a system designed to support tamper-resistant, highly available and traceable record-keeping.

Public, private, permissioned and permissionless blockchains

Not all blockchains work in the same way. For business leaders, one of the most important distinctions is the difference between public and private networks, and between permissioned and permissionless models.

Public blockchains are open networks. In general, anyone can access them, and they are often designed for broad transparency and participation. These networks are especially relevant where openness, interoperability and shared trust are important.

Private blockchains are restricted to a specific organisation or group of participants. They are usually designed for tightly controlled business processes, where governance, confidentiality or performance requirements call for more control.

A second distinction concerns permissions.

In a permissionless blockchain, participants can typically join the network and interact with it without prior approval, provided they follow the network’s technical rules.

In a permissioned blockchain, roles and actions are controlled more tightly. Specific participants may be allowed to read, write, validate or administer the network based on predefined permissions.

These models are not interchangeable. The right choice depends on the use case, the governance model, the sensitivity of the data, and the degree of openness required.

How infrastructure factors in

Blockchain discussions often focus on tokens, protocols or applications. But for IT decision-makers, infrastructure is just as important.

A blockchain environment depends on reliable underlying systems to ensure performance and trust. Three requirements stand out in particular: security, speed and uptime.

1. Security

Security is indispensably foundational. Blockchain networks are designed to preserve data integrity, but they still need to be protected at the infrastructure and operational levels.

This includes safeguarding validator or node environments, protecting sensitive data during processing, enforcing strict identity and access controls, and defending services against network attacks such as DDoS events. In some blockchain contexts, security solutions must also be tailored carefully so that legitimate high-volume traffic is not mistaken for malicious traffic.

2. Speed and low latency

Many blockchain applications are highly sensitive to latency. Validation, data propagation and user-facing responsiveness all depend on fast, stable connectivity.

This is especially relevant for environments such as decentralised finance, exchanges, validator operations, RPC services and analytics pipelines, where milliseconds can affect performance and user experience. The network layer matters a great deal: bandwidth, routing quality, geographic distribution and private interconnection can all influence outcomes.

3. High availability and resilience

Blockchain systems are expected to operate continuously. Downtime can mean missed transactions, degraded service, failed validations or loss of trust.

That makes blockchain’s resiliency critical. Distributed hosting, strong service-level commitments, redundancy, and multi-regional design can all play an important role in keeping blockchain workloads available and synchronised.

For IT leaders evaluating providers or architectures, blockchain should therefore be treated as both an application question and an infrastructure question.

Blockchain goes beyond cryptocurrency

Perhaps the biggest misconception for blockchain is that it begins, and ends, with crypto.

Cryptocurrency is just one application of blockchain, and it is far from the only one. The technology can also support a wide range of business and public-sector use cases where transparency, traceability, automation or shared trust are needed.

Examples include:

• Digital identity and access models, where blockchain can help verify claims or credentials while preserving control and traceability
• Supply chain tracking, where organisations need reliable visibility into provenance, handling and transfers across multiple parties
• Smart contracts, which can automate actions when predefined conditions are met
• Decentralised applications, where services run on distributed infrastructure rather than a single central backend
• Enterprise recordkeeping, where multiple stakeholders need a shared, verifiable source of truth

The key point is that blockchain is valuable beyond the fact that it is decentralised. It is valuable when decentralisation, immutability and shared verification solve a real business or operational challenge together.

A practical view for IT leaders

For IT leaders, blockchain should be approached with the same discipline as any other architecture decision.

And that means asking:

• What trust problem are we solving?
• Do we need a shared ledger across multiple parties?
• What governance model fits the use case?
• What are the performance, security and compliance requirements?
• Which infrastructure will support this reliably at scale?

In some cases, a conventional database will still be the right answer. In others, blockchain offers a stronger foundation for transparency, resilience and distributed trust.

The important thing is to move beyond the hype. Used in the right context, blockchain is a practical architectural model with applications that extend well beyond cryptocurrency.

As adoption grows, IT leaders who understand both the technology and its infrastructure requirements will be those best placed to identify where it can deliver meaningful business value.

This article is based on the guide “The Blockchain Blueprint”, available to download for free.

You never see it, but without the DNS, no website would be accessible, no email could be delivered, and no online service would work correctly.

At the heart of this system are DNS records, which structure how services are exposed on the Internet. These records evolve alongside modern web architectures, and at OVHcloud, this has resulted in support for SVCB and HTTPS records.

To better understand these innovations, let’s look at the main types of DNS records and their roles.

The DNS in a few words

The Domain Name System (DNS) translates a domain name into an IP address that is understandable by machines. When a user enters a web address (such as “www.example.com”), a request is sent to identify the corresponding server.

This phase, known as DNS resolution, uses different types of records that each fulfil a specific role.

The most common DNS records

Some records are essential when configuring a domain. Here are the main types present in a DNS zone.

A and AAAA: make a website accessible

For a website to be reachable, its domain name must be associated with an IP address. This is where A (IPv4) and AAAA (IPv6) records come in.

They form the basis of DNS resolution and allow browsers to reach the server hosting the site.

CNAME: creates an alias between two domain names

A CNAME record allows one domain name to point to another, without directly associating it with an IP address. For example, “blog.example.com” can link to “example.com”, which avoids duplicating the configuration.

⚠️ Note: a CNAME cannot be configured at the root of a domain (e.g. “example.com”). It is only used on subdomains, such as “blog.example.com”.

MX: manages the receipt of emails

MX (Mail Exchange) records indicate which servers should handle emails being sent to a domain. They play a central role in distributing messages and in the reliability of messaging.

TXT: verifies a domain and enhances security

TXT records allow additional information to be linked to a domain. They are particularly used to prove ownership to external services and to secure emails.

Mechanisms such as SPF, DKIM, or DMARC rely on TXT records to limit identity theft and spam.

SVCB and HTTPS: what are these new DNS records for?

During DNS resolution, the browser obtains the information needed to contact a server.

SVCB (Service Binding) and HTTPS records enrich this step by indicating more precisely how to access the service.

They may mention the supported protocols (HTTP/2 or HTTP/3), the preferred server, or certain technical parameters intended to optimise the connection.

By transmitting this information during the resolution, they limit certain intermediate exchanges between the browser and the server. This mechanism helps to improve the performance and loading speed of websites.

A key use case: the alias at the root of the domain

As mentioned, a CNAME record cannot be configured at the root of a domain (such as “example.com”). This constraint of the DNS required the use of alternative solutions when it was necessary to point a main domain to an external service.

HTTPS and SVCB records remove this limitation. They offer the option to indicate that a web service located at the root of the domain is provided by another name, similar to a CNAME, while adhering to DNS rules.

Here’s an example: a company broadcasts its site via a CDN accessible at the address “example.cdn-provider.net”, while retaining “example.com” as the access point. Thanks to a HTTPS record, the browser can be directed to the CDN service without a visible redirection for the user or a complex DNS configuration.

⚠️ However, these mechanisms rely on newer features, so their support may vary depending on the browsers and operating systems, particularly in older environments.

What benefits do these new records offer?

By enriching the DNS resolution phase, SVCB and HTTPS records can direct clients more accurately towards suitable services.

This helps to reduce latency, improve perceived performance, and strengthen consistency across browsers, protocols, and infrastructures.

These records also provide greater flexibility in DNS configuration, particularly for environments integrating CDNs, external platforms, or distributed cloud architectures.

How can I configure my SVCB and HTTPS records with OVHcloud?

SVCB and HTTPS records are available from your OVHcloud control panel.

To configure them:

1. Go to the “Domain Names” section
2. Select the relevant domain
3. Access the “DNS Zone” tab
4. Add a new SVCB or HTTPS record

Depending on your situation, you may need to adjust the associated settings (priority, target, service-specific options). For detailed information on managing DNS records, please consult our dedicated guide.

In summary: a more flexible and effective DNS

The DNS remains an essential pillar of the internet and continues to evolve to adapt to newer architectures.

With SVCB and HTTPS records, it is now possible to optimise service exposure, simplify certain configurations (particularly at the root of the domain), and improve performance from the resolution stage.This is a discreet yet strategic technical development in response to the growing demands for speed, security, and flexibility.

At OVHcloud, we firmly believe that open innovation and close partnerships with the academic world are essential to building a more efficient, resilient, and transparent internet. In this spirit, we are pleased to contribute to research on the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) – the core routing protocol that keeps the global internet running. Often described as the ‘glue’ of the internet, BGP is what allows thousands of independently operated networks to interconnect and reach one another. The OVHcloud network is one such example, operating one of the largest global backbones.

By delivering cloud infrastructure and services, we enable the bgproutes.io platform to evolve, scale, and provide better insights into the routing data shared across global networks. This partnership aims to help researchers analyse, view, and interpret BGP data from a wide range of global vantage points.

Partnering with academic researchers to drive progress in internet infrastructure

BGP routing plays a critical role in the stability of the global internet. However, its complexity and opacity can present significant challenges, e.g., routing incidents, unintentional and deliberate route hijacks, and the spread of inaccurate routing data, among others.

For many years, the research team at the University of Strasbourg have been developing innovative solutions to make BGP routing more accessible, transparent, and understandable for network engineers and academic researchers.

Their platform, bgproutes.io, serves a dual purpose:

1. collecting routing data from a large number of independent networks, and
2. providing users with powerful tools to analyse BGP data accurately with precision and in real time.

Supporting this initiative allows OVHcloud to further its commitment to promoting scientific collaboration. Through our compute and hosting capabilities, researchers can develop, test, and scale their platform in a secure, high-performance, and scalable cloud environment.

Accelerating network innovation through an open data platform

The bgproutes.io project aims to bring greater transparency to BGP routing by enabling:

• the large-scale collection and aggregation of BGP routes from global networks;
• dynamic, real-time visualisation of routing pathways;
• anomaly detection and behavioural analysis;
• open access to collected data to facilitate further research.

The platform relies on OVHcloud’s infrastructure to process larger amounts of data, enhance visualisation, and integrate new analytical tools, including machine learning capabilities and multi-source correlation engines.

This partnership drives innovation in internet routing by equipping researchers with the ideal environment to test new ideas and offer the global internet community a more powerful and accessible tool.

OVHcloud’s support is reinforced by the expertise of our network engineering teams and high-performance Bare Metal solutions. Combined, they offer the stability, scalability, and flexibility needed to push the boundaries of routing research.

OVHcloud’s commitment to research, open data, and a stronger internet

OVHcloud, through this partnership, reaffirms its long-standing commitment to academic research, open data, and a safer and more transparent internet.

Our support for the University of Strasbourg and the bgproutes.io project contributes to clearer global understanding and improved reliability of BGP routing, which is crucial for a stable internet.

Together, we can make the internet more open, secure, and innovative.

That’s why we’re so excited to announce our new partnership with Epitech 🥳, a school renowned for helping talented students learn.

From Classroom to Career

This new partnership is our promise to help students succeed, giving them the tools and experience they need to build great things. Here’s how we’ll be helping the Epitech community:

• Fun Hackathons: We’ll host hackathons where students can team up to solve real problems and be creative, turning good ideas into actual projects. 💡

• Great Internships: Epitech students can come work with our teams. Our internships offer a real chance to use what they’ve learned in class and to get a solid start on their careers.

• Hands-on Training: Our experts will run special workshops for students. They’ll learn the latest tech skills directly from the people who use them firsthand every day.

• Help for Students: New ideas often start with research. We’ll give Epitech’s students special access to public cloud services on beneficial terms. We want to help them turn their ideas into reality, faster! 🔬

This Is Just the Beginning

Our partnership with Epitech is a huge first step for us, but we’re just getting started.
OVHcloud aims to team up with more schools in the future, as we believe it’s imperative for companies and schools to work together! By supporting students everywhere, we help them become the strong leaders of tomorrow.

Schools Are Our Future

We’re deeply convinced of this simple truth: the future is in the hands of today’s students.

In an ever-evolving landscape, building a sustainable and innovative future depends on our ability to develop and master our own technologies.  And in today’s geopolitical context, where questions of digital independence and data control are more critical than ever, giving young talents the means to innovate locally is not just an opportunity — it’s a necessity.

After all, technical sovereignty doesn’t start in boardrooms, it starts in schools. By providing students with the skills, tools, and mindsets to design and control their own digital solutions, we are actively contributing to a stronger, more resilient ecosystem. By investing in education, we’re investing in our future – ensuring that the next generation of engineers, developers, and visionaries have the opportunity to build a better, more technologically advanced world. In this world of tomorrow, Europe and its partners remain free, innovative, and sovereign.

To everyone at Epitech, we can’t wait to start working with you. Let’s build the future together!