{"691834":{"#nid":"691834","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Georgia Tech Students Claim Victory at DEF CON\u2019s Elite Hacking Competition","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EYear after year, some of the world\u2019s best hackers gather at DEF CON in Las Vegas to put their skills to the test. None is more prominent than the annual Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, where elite cybersecurity teams compete to find vulnerabilities, exploit systems, and defend their own infrastructure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year, Team Blue Water \u2013 which features nine Georgia Tech participants \u2013came out on top after three days of intense competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cI\u0027ve competed in DEF CON CTFs for four years now,\u201d said Ph.D. student \u003Cstrong\u003EKevin Stevens\u003C\/strong\u003E. \u201cAfter winning second place three years in a row, it\u0027s so rewarding to finally achieve first place with such a great team.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlue Water finished with 578,103 points, well ahead of second-place team 0x4b52, which scored 454,797 points. SuperDiceCodeLovers took third place with 425,686 points.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe results highlighted Georgia Tech\u2019s strength in the competition. The first-, second-, and third-place teams all included Georgia Tech students or alumni.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech participants on Blue Water included:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cul\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e3ef6f543b2df3dd0c7a7b0dafec7fcde\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJalen Chuang\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e1fcabc4eb13dc2c4cb2baddf9cf6b096\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJiho Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e7667fcbac959bcf377625349042de794\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EAndrew Chin\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ed8b06407a3d8f2e450314ce2f7310926\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYoungjoon Kim\u003C\/strong\u003E, postdoctoral researcher\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022ec981f8ddb4a6646ecec69b29b0b6b05f\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EKevin Stevens\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e044abb47507a980780f3b0f8c685d794\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYong Hwi Jin\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e29bbeb464e4c1ae2b2fcd755c17ed6ab\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESunghyeon Jo\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e8bc335225b47fe322beabe2c022e7e50\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EYu-Fu Fu\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003Cli data-list-item-id=\u0022e2c8ff612c34f25791fb36722de95e26c\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGye Jin Lee\u003C\/strong\u003E, Ph.D. student\u003C\/li\u003E\u003C\/ul\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBlue Water consisted of members from Perfect Blue, Water Paddler, r00timentary, RedBud, BunkyoWesterns, and undef1ned. Combining multiple teams into a single roster is common at DEF CON CTF.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe competition unfolded over three days, with teams competing for about seven hours on each of the first two days and an additional two and a half hours on the final day. However, the work continued beyond the competition\u0027s official hours. The teams were allowed to continue working through the evenings and nights to find vulnerabilities, protect their systems, and gain points.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe challenges were designed by the Benevolent Bureau of Birds, the group that had won the competition for the past four years under the team name Maple Mallard Magistrates. The group is a collaboration between Plaid Parliament of Pwning from Carnegie Mellon University, The Duck from Theori Inc., and Maple Bacon from the University of British Columbia.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year\u2019s bird-themed competition featured a wide range of technical challenges, including escaping game softlocks, programming in a custom bird emoji language, working with a custom computer architecture and using Game of Life patterns for data exfiltration. Other challenges included a bot battleground, protecting the 1994 Netscape Navigator browser, and exploring a reimagined version of the internet built around \u201cbird HTTP\u201d and \u201cbird CSS.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EFor Stevens, one of his contributions to the winning effort focused on a new competition mechanic introduced this year, the \u201crebate mechanic.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETeams could earn partial points back for flags stolen from them if they recovered those flags from recorded network traffic. Stevens created and maintained a service to manage the new mechanic, adding another layer of strategy to an already complex competition.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe victory adds another accomplishment to Georgia Tech\u2019s growing record in elite cybersecurity competitions, where students regularly apply classroom knowledge and research skills into practice against some of the strongest teams in the field.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSCP students and their collaborators continue to excel, winning elite cybersecurity competitions, including this year\u2019s CTF at DEF CON,\u201d said \u003Cstrong\u003EMustaque Ahamad\u003C\/strong\u003E, interim chair of Georgia Tech\u2019s \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/scp.cc.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003ESchool of Cybersecurity and Privacy\u003C\/a\u003E (SCP).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis is because of the excellence of our students and the SCP research projects and courses that prepare them with the advanced knowledge and skills needed to discover and mitigate the most challenging security vulnerabilities in systems on which we all rely.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EYear after year, some of the world\u2019s best hackers gather at DEF CON in Las Vegas to put their skills to the test. None is more prominent than the annual Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, where elite cybersecurity teams compete to find vulnerabilities, exploit systems, and defend their own infrastructure.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis year, Team Blue Water \u2013 which features nine Georgia Tech participants \u2013came out on top after three days of intense competition.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Year after year, some of the world\u2019s best hackers gather at DEF CON in Las Vegas to put their skills to the test. None is more prominent than the annual Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, where elite cybersecurity teams compete to find vulnerabilities, e"}],"uid":"36253","created_gmt":"2026-08-19 18:55:49","changed_gmt":"2026-08-19 19:03:31","author":"John Popham","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","location":"Atlanta, GA","dateline":{"date":"2026-08-19T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2026-08-19T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"680929":{"id":"680929","type":"image","title":"Blue-Water-Group-Shot.jpg","body":null,"created":"1787165758","gmt_created":"2026-08-19 18:55:58","changed":"1787165758","gmt_changed":"2026-08-19 18:55:58","alt":"A group of people standing outside holding a banner. 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The banner has their team name, Blue Water","file":{"fid":"265265","name":"623.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/19\/623.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2026\/08\/19\/623.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1648037,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2026\/08\/19\/623.jpg?itok=PEOdyYG8"}}},"media_ids":["680929","680930","680931","680932"],"groups":[{"id":"47223","name":"College of Computing"},{"id":"660406","name":"School of Cybersecurity \u0026 Privacy"},{"id":"660367","name":"School of Cybersecurity and Privacy"}],"categories":[{"id":"153","name":"Computer Science\/Information Technology and Security"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"193158","name":"Student Competition Winners (academic, innovation, and research)"},{"id":"193157","name":"Student Honors and Achievements"}],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"145171","name":"Cybersecurity"},{"id":"39501","name":"People and Technology"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Popham\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ECommunications Officer II at the School of Cybersecurity and Privacy\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jpopham3@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}