Taiwan ranked in the top 10 this year at the biggest hacking convention, known as DEFCON, organized annually in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The flagship competition of the event is DEFCON CTF, or capture-the-flag, where teams try to attack and defend computers and networks. This year 1,742 teams competed in the CTF contest from August 9 to 11. Team Taiwan, comprised of about 30 members half of whom are students, ranked 7th in the final result, outperforming teams from China, Korea, Russia and Switzerland.
Cultivating cybersecurity talents has been a consistent focus in the Education Ministry’s policies. Senior official at the Information and Technology Education Department Lan Man-chi (藍曼琪) said that since 2015, the ministry has been promoting cybersecurity programs with courses at schools and employing systematic cultivation for potential talents. It also allocates funds every year to support students participating in domestic and overseas cybersecurity competitions.
Team Taiwan, under the name “if this works we'll get fewer for next year”, ranked 10th in the preliminary round, advancing to the finals, then securing 7th place out of 12 teams. Later they scored 1,000 points in the one-on-one capture-the-flag match, where they ranked 3rd. They ultimately finished 7th overall with a total score of 2,943 points.
This is Taiwan’s 11th time participating in DEFCON CTF. The Education Ministry pledges to continue investing in cybersecurity cultivation programs at school, increasing Taiwan’s international visibility and comprehensive competitiveness.