KakaoBank Officially Sponsors Korean Team Competing in World's Largest Hacking Defense Competition

Inviting Organizers for Exchange with Technology Executives
Providing Uniforms and Supplies to the Entire Team

KakaoBank announced that it has invited the domestic white-hat hacker alliance team "Cold Fusion," which has advanced to the finals of DEF CON 33 CTF, the world's largest hacking defense competition to be held in the United States this August, to its Pangyo office for a meeting and will officially sponsor the team. The competition is held in a capture-the-flag format, where participants must find vulnerabilities in systems within a limited time and also demonstrate their ability to defend against such attacks.

Cold Fusion is a team representing Korea, formed by leading domestic universities, research labs, security communities, and industry experts. The team secured a spot in the finals by ranking in the top positions (8th place) during the preliminaries. Among this year's finalists, it is the only team composed entirely of Korean nationals.

The meeting was attended by 10 Cold Fusion organizers, as well as KakaoBank's technology executives and staff, including Chief Information Security Officer Min Kyungpyo and Chief Technology Officer Shin Jaehong. They shared updates on the team's preparations and discussed the latest security technology trends. KakaoBank also decided to officially sponsor the team by providing uniforms and other necessary items for the competition. Kwon Hyukjoo, KakaoBank Application Security Team Manager and Cold Fusion member who will participate in the competition, said, "I will use the experience gained at DEF CON to further grow and contribute to the development of KakaoBank and the domestic security ecosystem."

On the 25th, the "Hacking Defense Competition DEFCON Participating Teams Invitation Meeting" was held at KakaoBank Pangyo Office in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province. KakaoBank

DEF CON, which began in 1993, is the world's most prestigious hacking defense competition and a global security conference that brings together white-hat hackers and security experts from around the world every year. The CTF competition held during the event is considered the "Hacker World Cup," where the world's top white-hat hackers compete.

This year, 195 teams from various countries, including the United States, Japan, and the United Kingdom, participated in the preliminaries in April, and the top 8 teams advanced to the finals. Four additional teams, including last year's champions who had already secured their spots, will join, making a total of 12 teams competing in the finals. DEF CON will be held in Las Vegas, United States, for four days from August 7 to August 10.

Min, the CISO, said, "It is meaningful to support Korean white-hat hackers who are active in a world-class hacking defense competition," and added, "Since its launch, KakaoBank has continued to collaborate with domestic security talent, including white-hat hackers, through information exchange and vulnerability analysis. We will continue to cooperate and invest to ensure a safe financial environment."