Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), the leader in cloud security, today announced its 6th annual Capture the Flag (CTF) Competition, which provides hands on experience to nurture the talent of more cybersecurity professionals.
The Trend Micro CTF 2020 – Raimund Genes Cup will be run as a fully online event for the first time, including virtual qualifying and final rounds. Teams from around the world are invited to test their skills across several critical areas of cybersecurity, especially those experiencing talent shortages or facing targeted attacks.
“The future of the connected world and digitally powered organizations rests upon the ability of the cybersecurity industry to defend business-critical data and systems,” said Mike Gibson, vice president of threat research for Trend Micro. “However, the corporate attack surface and threat landscape are constantly growing and changing. Our global CTF helps push back against these trends by empowering talented individuals to strengthen their skill sets in crucial areas. We also learn a lot from the contestants with how they approach challenges and the tools they use, which helps us stay ahead as defenders.”
This year, the event will include challenges in reverse engineering, forensics/exploitation, open source intelligence (OSINT), mobile, IoT, machine learning, and radio-frequency (RF) systems. RF is featured for the first time after a highly successful engagement with the cybersecurity community in separate Capture the Signal events over the past two years.
This year’s Global CTF consists of an online qualifier and virtual finals event. The online qualifier will take place on September 26-27 (Japan Standard Time) and will include Jeopardy-style questions to challenge teams’ problem-solving skills. The top 10 teams will qualify for the finals, which will take place online on the weekend of December 18.
The winning team from the finals receives 1,000,000 Japanese Yen (approximately $9000 USD). Each player from the winning team will also receive 15,000 Zero Day Initiative Rewards Program points, to help them earn exclusive awards and benefits. The second and third place teams receive 300,000 JPY and 200,000 JPY, approximately $2,600 USD and $1,800 USD respectively.
Hosting competitions like the global CTF is just one part of Trend Micro’s approach to supporting the cybersecurity industry skills shortage. The company also recruits and trains new cybersecurity professionals across the globe and builds enhanced automation in its products and services for detection and response, like Trend Micro XDR, to take the pressure off stretched IT security teams.
For more information and to register for the event, please visit: https://www.trenmicro.com/ctf.
