South Korean hackers achieve historic second place at DEF CON CTF 34

At the DEF CON CTF 34 hacking defense competition held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, South Korean white hat hackers achieved historic results. The all-Korean team ‘0x4b52’, composed of approximately 30 members from groups including Enki Whitehat’s Hypeboy and the KAIST Hacking Lab, secured second place, marking the highest achievement for a purely Korean team in the competition's history.

Other Korean-led or participant teams also placed highly in the top 12 finalists. ‘Super Dice Code Lovers’ took third place, ‘Cold Fusion’ took fourth, and ‘ABCD’ took fifth. Additional teams including ‘Jindabis’ (7th), ‘The Seoul Sauna Shogun Nate’ (9th), and ‘Dokdo’ (12th) also participated in the event.

Experts from the Financial Security Institute’s ‘RED IRIS’ unit were part of the winning efforts, demonstrating advanced capabilities in vulnerability analysis, reverse engineering, and AI-integrated security techniques. The Korea Internet & Security Agency noted that these results symbolize the growing global cybersecurity capabilities and teamwork of South Korean white hat hackers.