Four teams from South Korea have advanced to the finals of the international hacking competition, DEF CON CTF 34. As cyber threats evolve with the rise of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the technical prowess of South Korean white-hat hackers is gaining recognition on the global stage.
According to the security industry on July 19, the finals of DEF CON CTF 34 will take place from August 7 to 9 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, featuring the top 12 teams that qualified through preliminary rounds. Among these, four teams include participants from South Korean companies and institutions: SK Shieldus EQST, Naver Cloud, Samsung Research, Tiori, Toss, ENKI Whitehat, Raon Security, KR Security, and Korea University.
Notably, SK Shieldus EQST formed an international team called 'The Seoul Sauna Shogunate' with Naver Cloud, Ruby Lab, Finland's H-T8, and Japan's TPC to reach the finals. This marks the first time a team involving SK Shieldus has advanced past the DEF CON CTF preliminaries.
DEF CON CTF, which began in 1993, is regarded as the world's premier international hacking competition, often referred to as the 'Hacking Olympics' or 'White Hat World Cup.' It evaluates not only the ability to find vulnerabilities but also assesses skills in attack and defense, system operation, and vulnerability research.
This year's preliminaries were conducted online over 48 hours in June. Reflecting advancements in generative AI, many challenges were designed to be difficult to solve using AI alone. While AI can assist in identifying vulnerabilities, successfully executing an attack requires complex analysis, experience, and the ability to design attack scenarios, thereby testing participants' practical skills.
In fact, the team involving SK Shieldus solved complex problems over approximately 30 hours, which included data recovery, network packet analysis, and web hacking. They had to restore corrupted hexadecimal data to reconstruct network packets, which were then used to tackle subsequent web hacking challenges. This highlighted the importance of not only individual skills but also teamwork and information sharing.
The finals will simulate a real corporate security environment. Competing teams will operate provided servers while simultaneously attacking vulnerabilities in other teams' servers and defending their own. Success in attacks and the stable operation of services will both be evaluated. Additionally, events such as 'Live CTF,' where representatives solve problems in real-time, and 'King of the Hill,' which tests the most efficient attack techniques, will also take place.
The security industry views this achievement as a testament to the growth of the domestic white-hat hacker ecosystem and the competitive edge of practical security talent required in the AI era. With teams formed by companies, universities, and international researchers competing against some of the world's top security experts, this event is expected to showcase South Korea's cybersecurity capabilities.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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