South Korean Security Talent Shines on Global Hacking Stage... 2nd and 3rd at DEFCON

Korean Teams Achieve Top Rankings for Five Consecutive Years Since 2022

South Korean white hat hackers secured both second and third place at one of the world’s most prestigious international hacking competitions.

Yonhap News Agency

The Ministry of Science and ICT and Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) announced on August 10 that six South Korean teams, consisting of BoB (Best of the Best) mentors and alumni, advanced to the finals of the DEFCON 2026 World Hacking Competition held in Las Vegas, USA, from August 6 to 9, achieving high rankings.

The team "0x4b52", led by mentor Lee Jongho and KAIST professor Yoon Insoo, finished in second place, while the "SuperDiceCodeLovers" team, led by mentor Kim Jiseop, placed third. The 0x4b52 team, comprised entirely of Koreans, marked its best performance since placing third in 2022.

This achievement continues the record of securing top ranks at the world’s leading international hacking competition for five consecutive years since 2022.

The DEFCON World Hacking Competition is held during DEFCON, the largest cybersecurity conference in the United States, and is recognized as a premier global hacking event. This year, 686 teams participated in the preliminary round, and 12 teams, including six from South Korea, advanced to the finals.

Choi Woo-hyuk, policy chief for Information Security Networks at the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, "We will actively foster world-class information security talent with practical skills to proactively counter increasingly sophisticated cyber threats in the AI era, and provide robust support for South Korea to lead global cybersecurity competition."

Lee Sangjoong, President of KISA, commented, "The achievement of 0x4b52, which included mentor Lee Jongho, proves that Korean security talent can compete at the highest level globally without outside assistance. BoB will continue to nurture homegrown talent capable of succeeding on the world stage."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.