Korea wins world’s top hacking contest for 4th consecutive year
Korean hacker team Maple Mallard Magistrates receives first prize at DEF CON’s Capture the Flag competition in Las Vegas, Sunday (local time). Courtesy of Ministry of Science and ICT
Korean white hat hacker team Maple Mallard Magistrates (MMM) won the Capture the Flag (CTF) hacking competition at this year’s DEF CON conference, held in Las Vegas from Thursday through Sunday (local time).
The final round of CTF, the largest open computer security hacking competition, was held during the security conference, with four Korean teams — SuperDiceCode, Cold Fusion, Friendly Maltese Citizens and MMM — among the 12 finalists.
MMM clinched first place for a fourth consecutive year, showcasing their world-class skills, while SuperDiceCode took third.
“I thank the four teams for their tireless effort and passion in proving the skill of Korea’s white hat hackers at the world’s top international hacking competition,” Science and ICT Minister Bae Kyung-hoon said Monday.
“We will continue to actively train elite white hackers to operate on the front lines of cyberspace defense.”
The win came just a day after a team from Samsung, KAIST and Pohang University of Science and Technology claimed first place in the conference’s two-year artificial intelligence (AI) competition, AI Cyber Challenge.
The final four teams in the CTF competition were made up of graduates and mentors from Best of the Best (BoB), Korea’s top white hat hacker training program run by the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Information Technology Research Institute (KITRI).
BoB is a nine‑month program that includes customized training from top information security experts and team projects.
A team of BoB mentors and alumni also won the conference’s annual CTF challenge called Red Alert Industrial Control Systems (ICS), which focuses specifically on defending ICS used in ships and airports. This year’s challenge centered on securing smart cities against cyberattacks, such as those that could cause power outages.
Another team of mentors and alumni presented their research results on vessel cybersecurity during the conference.
“Since 2015, BoB mentors and alumni have achieved strong results in various fields,” KITRI President Yoon Joon-sang said.
“As we enter a new era where AI plays a critical role in both cyberoffense and cyberdefense, BoB will not rest on past achievements but will pursue a fundamental evolution to further elevate its capabilities.”