Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Ministry of National Defense held awards ceremony for the White Hat Contest
Three winners chosen in the categories of defense, general, and youth
Awards ceremony followed by conference to seek ways to respond to cyber warfare

On November 3, the Ministry of National Defense held an awards ceremony for White Hat Contest 2021 and a conference at the ministry convention in Yongsan, Seoul. 

Under the slogan of ‘cooperative and powerful cyber defense,’ the event was attended by National Assembly Defense Committee member Ahn Kyu-baek, Third Deputy Director of the National Intelligence Service Kim Seon-hee, chief director of the Codegate Security Forum Cho Hyun-sook, domestic experts in cyber security, and military cadets. The ministry broadcast the ‘White Hat Contest’ event on Youtube, with the aim of sharing it with everyone in the country.

In his welcoming address, Suh said “To secure advantages in the cyber space, which is evolving day by day, there should be integration in national capabilities as well as military capabiliites,” adding “I expect this White Hat Contest, which has served as a venue for cooperation among the private, public, and military sectors for the development of cyber security, to pave the way to further strengthening our cyber capabilities.”

Hosted by the ministry and presided over by the Cyber Operations Command, the White Hat Contest has been held every year since 2013. This year’s contest involved a total of 322 teams, and 22 entrants moved up to the finals. In the finals, entrants were required to resolve tasks involved in the process of carrying out operations against cyber attacks, and earned scores. Winners in each section were ‘Kang Jin-oh fan club team (general),’ ‘Victory Yeslcan (youth)’ and ‘-finallist cutline-(defense).’

Following the ceremony, a conference was held to spread awareness of the importance of defense cyber security, and to seek ways to respond to cyber warfare by predicting the future of cyber warfare.

With the title ‘borderless cyber warfare, symbiotic and cooperative defense security,’ the event started with a keynote address from Cho, chief director of the Codegate Security Forum, which had held the country’s first international anti-hacking contest. At a conference following the event, experts in the press, academics, and business, and military cadets exchanged various opinions under the theme ‘cooperative cyber defense, present and future cyber warfare in the Digital New Deal Era.’

At the presentation sessions, which had titles like ‘Countermeasures against the recent cyber threats and intelligent cyber attacks’ and ‘Domestic and foreign trends related to hackers and counterstrategies,’ experts in cyber security attracted attention by expressing their diverse views.

“Marking its ninth anniversary this year, the White Hat Contest is a forum for communication in which participants can discuss forward-looking and creative opinions in order to enhance defense cyber security and national cyber capabilities. The military will take the event as an asset to carry out cyber operations by listening

By Chae-Mu, Im <lims86@dema.mil.kr >

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