TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese team took seventh place at DEF CON, an international hacking conference in Las Vegas held Thursday-Sunday (Aug. 8–11).
According to the Ministry of Education (MOE), 1,742 teams from various countries competed in a capture-the-flag (CTF) competition, where competitors used their hacking skills to capture text strings, referred to as "flags,” hidden in vulnerable programs or websites.
Both the conference and the hacking competition attracted not only internationally famous hackers as participants but also information security personnel, government agencies, students, and media participants, per CNA.
The MOE has been promoting a talent cultivation program in information security since 2014. In addition to improving teaching materials associated with information security in schools, it also subsidizes students to participate in domestic and foreign information security-related competitions and activities.
This year was Taiwan’s 11th time participating in the event. After a fierce round of preliminary competitions, Taiwan earned its spot in the final round of 10 competitors.
The finals included several competitions, including an offensive and defensive match and a one-on-one CTF match. Taiwan’s team finished seventh with a total score of 2943 points.
Huang Chun-ying (黃俊穎), an advisor to the team and a professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University’s Department of Computer Science, said that the team's success is dependent upon team members continually practicing their skills, engaging in pre-event workshops, and cooperating with teammates.
Huang was proud the team could achieve success, despite fewer resources and members compared to other teams. Huang said special arrangements were made this year, allowing some team members to go to the venue while others offered remote support from Taiwan.
According to Huang, the Taiwan team benefited from excellent online support, coordination, and flexible use of manpower. This allowed the team to be very competitive and effective around the clock.
