SK Shieldus said on March 19 it has wrapped up its in-house hacking competition, 'Hack the Real', for employees.

The competition was planned and hosted by EQST (Experts, Qualified Security Team), SK Shieldus' white-hat hacker group. It was run with a focus on practical skills required of penetration testing consultants in their day-to-day work.

It was made up of questions reflecting real security issues, including analysis of recent intrusion cases, security inspection techniques for the financial sector, bypassing mobile security solutions, and vulnerability analysis of AI and LLM services. The company said the format allowed participants to check their on-the-job capabilities.

According to SK Shieldus, about 300 employees participated, showing strong interest. The competition set 18 missions across seven areas: web hacking, mobile hacking, AI and LLM, system hacking (Pwnable), browser security, IoT, and ransomware and reversing.

The grand prize went to Senior Associate Jeong-seop So (소정섭) of the ICT Business 1 team. SK Shieldus said he received high marks for taking part in all areas and demonstrating his capabilities by effectively drawing out sophisticated vulnerability analysis and hacking response strategies.

So said, "Through this competition, I was able to directly analyse the latest attack techniques, check vulnerabilities from an attacker's perspective, and feel the blind spots in security." He added, "I will continue to think about safe services from a security perspective and grow into an expert who can effectively respond to cyber threats."

Byung-moo Kim (김병무), vice president and head of the cyber security division at SK Shieldus, said, "This in-house hacking competition was a valuable occasion that went beyond verifying employees' technical capabilities, and firmly established across the organisation the 'real-world-based security leadership' that SK Shieldus pursues amid a rapidly advancing threat environment." He added, "As AI and automation technologies are quickly being used in security threats as well, we will continue research and hands-on training that proactively respond to change, and do our best to protect customer safety as an industry-leading company."