《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Hackers vie for US$10,000 prize, trip to Las Vegas

/ Staff writer, with CNA

Hacks In Taiwan Conference （HITCON） Capture The Flag （CTF）, one of the largest online hacking games in Asia, began in Taipei yesterday, with 13 teams competing for a top prize of US$10,000.

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The two-day competition, organized by HITCON and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, allows hackers to challenge information security systems to help make security systems safer.

The hackers have tremendous knowledge and skills in the field of information security, HITCON said.

Among the 13 teams from various nations are Dispwnable and Hacker Forge of Taiwan, the organizers said.

The winning team is to be awarded US$10,000, while those in second and third place would take home US$5,000 and US$2,000 respectively. A special prize of US$1,000 is to be awarded to the Taiwanese team that finishes in the highest position.

Industrial Development Bureau Director-General Wu Ming-ji （吳明機）, who heads one of the sponsors, said that in a modern society information security is critical to national defense and he hopes that the cooperation between hackers and the information security sector would lay a good foundation for the nation’s information security.

The preliminary contests were held from Oct. 8 to Oct. 10 and involved about 3,000 hackers in 1,024 teams from more than 80 nations, double the number of competitors that took part last year, the organizers said.

Ten of those teams made it to the final, while another three qualified via a competition organized by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and online security software developer Trend Micro Inc.

The winner of the final qualifies for DEF CON CTF, the world’s largest hacker game, in Las Vegas next year, the organizers said.

The first HITCON games were held in Taiwan in 2005. Last year, the organizers secured the assistance of the Industrial Development Bureau to hold the competition annually in a bid to raise awareness of information security issues.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES