On October 1-2, 2024, the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine (SSSCIP), the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan, jointly held the Ukrainian-Japanese online competition in Capture The Flag (CTF) format.
The CTF competition aims to attract young people to cybersecurity. During such events, participants acquire practical skills in information protection, which contributes to the training of new specialists in the field.
Of the 600+ participants, 300 were chosen by lot to form 100 teams for the CTF competition. Most of the participants were students specializing in technical fields, with nearly equal numbers from Japan and Ukraine.
According to the results of the competition, eight teams were crowned winners, four of them Ukrainian. Teams of students from the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute (including Oleksii Bondarenko, Dmytro Kryhin, Yurii Pryhodko, Volodymyr Duduladenko, David Shanidze, Volodymyr Bigunenko and Vlad Tsema) reaffirmed their exceptional skills, taking both first and second place with an enormous lead over other teams.
“I sincerely congratulate Kyiv Polytechnic students on their victory in the international Ukrainian-Japanese Capture The Flag (CTF) cybersecurity competition! Special thanks are due to Mykola Ilyin, the team coach, as well as to the staff and administration of our Institute of Physics and Technology for the high level of training,” Kyiv Polytechnic Rector Anatolii Melnychenko wrote in the chat app Telegram.
Competition participants solved tasks in cryptography, reverse engineering, finding web application vulnerabilities, network security, secure use of AI technologies, and analysis of information from open sources.
“We were delighted to be part of organizing this CTF competition, which turned out to be extremely exciting. We are satisfied with the results and are considering the possibility of holding more events to further cooperation, share experience and develop talents in the field of cybersecurity, both in Japan and in Ukraine,” said Ihor Malchenyuk, Director of the SSSCIP Cyber Defense Department.
In her statement, Valeriya Ionan, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration, underscored the importance of such collaborations: “Nowadays, cyber wars and cyber threats can have global consequences for national security and economic stability. Therefore, disseminating cybersecurity knowledge and skills to counter growing threats is a priority. It is especially important for Ukraine to cooperate with other leading digital nations to generalize best practices to strengthen our resilience in the face of russia’s full-scale invasion. That is why we supported the Ukrainian-Japanese CTF cybersecurity competition to bring together experts and young professionals from both countries. Creating a safe and secure digital space is our common goal.”
More information:
https://cip.gov.ua/en/news/ukrayinski-komandi-peremogli-u-mizhnarodnomu-ctf-zmaganni1
Source: Ukrainian-Polish Center
