AI-native security platform company AhnLab said on Tuesday that the REPO team, which included a researcher from its threat intelligence analysis team A-FIRST, received an encouragement award (Signal Technology Research Institute director's award) at an awards ceremony for the 12th 2026 Cryptanalysis Competition held on Sept. 21 at the Nine Tree Premier ROKAUS Hotel in Seoul's Yongsan district.

The Cryptanalysis Competition is a contest in the field of cryptanalysis jointly hosted and sponsored by the Korea Institute of Information Security and Cryptology (KIISC) and the ROK Army 777 Command. It has been held annually since 2015.

AhnLab said participants competed across a total of 8 categories of problems, from classical cryptanalysis to block ciphers and homomorphic encryption. Lee Jung-wook (이정욱), a manager in AhnLab's A-FIRST, won the Signal Technology Research Institute director's award as leader of the REPO team along with team members Do-hyun Yoon (윤도현) and Ju-yeol Yoon (윤주열), security experts from industry and academia.

AhnLab said the REPO team identified the complex cryptographic algorithm structures required for each problem and analysed vulnerabilities, then derived decryption techniques and source code based on those findings.

Chang-gyu Han (한창규), head of AhnLab's research institute, said AhnLab researchers are broadening their expertise by taking on various technology competitions based on hands-on experience. He said the company will also proactively respond to new threats in the AI era based on accumulated threat analysis capabilities.