Trend Micro Works to Bridge Cybersecurity Skills Gap with Global Competition
Capture the Flag trains teams in vital skills for security professionals
[Hong Kong, November 14, 2017] There is a growing need for cybersecurity professionals globally, and young professionals need practical experience to hone the skills required to fill this void. Trend Micro Incorporated (TYO: 4704; TSE: 4704), a global leader in cybersecurity solutions, recognizes this need, and recently hosted its third annual Capture the Flag competition to support critical skill development by solving real-world cybersecurity challenges. This year’s competition was won by team Egfr33ks who successfully deciphered challenges that tested players’ skills in various categories, such as targeted attacks, Internet of Things (IoT), Industrial Control Systems (ICS) and Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).
According to a report from Gartner1, 59 percent of surveyed companies have an urgent need for a security analyst and “the unemployment rate for cybersecurity professionals is zero.”2 Trend Micro’s 2017 Capture the Flag – Raimund Genes Cup aims to empower young professionals with practical skills in the most demanding areas of today’s cybersecurity landscape. Players earn valuable real-world experience that can be used in job interviews and daily challenges faced in the workplace.
“We want to help decrease the skills shortage that impacts organizations globally, as well as continuing to make the world safer for the exchange of digital information,” said Eva Chen, chief executive officer for Trend Micro. “The challenges posed in this competition represent the future of the cybersecurity landscape. We hope the skills learned here will be used to protect internet users from the greatest areas of emerging threats.”
In this year’s Capture the Flag, 1,431 teams from 91 countries participated in the online qualifier in June, with the top 10 teams moving on to the finals in Tokyo, Japan. There were 22 teams from Hong Kong to participate in the online qualifier and the best result was achieved by team “vxrl” who finished 104th.
The winning team “Egfr33ks” received 1,000,000JPY (nearly 10,000USD) as prize money, automatic qualification for the HITCON CTF 2017 final, and 15,000 Zero Day Initiative (ZDI) reward points, which enable vulnerability researchers to earn more rewards when submitting to the ZDI program.
Trend Micro has several global initiatives that support cybersecurity education and skills development. These have impacted more than 10,000 schools and 1 million children, parents, and teachers worldwide to teach online safety from a young age and inspire future security professionals to begin on this career path.
Videos from the event can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYGyHY5vkk9oRVlh24eKNyg.
Trend Micro’s 2017 Capture the Flag – Raimund Genes Cup – Event webpage: www.trendmicro.com/en_us/campaigns/capture-the-flag.html
1Gartner Presentation, To the Point: Confront the Cybersecurity Talent Shortage, June 2017, Sam Olyaei and Matthew T. Stamper
2 Gartner, Adapt Your Traditional Staffing Practices for Cybersecurity, January 2017, Sam Olyaei, Mark Coleman ,Matthew T. Stamper
About Trend Micro
Trend Micro, a global cybersecurity leader, helps make the world safe for exchanging digital information. Fueled by decades of security expertise, global threat research, and continuous innovation, Trend Micro's cybersecurity platform protects hundreds of thousands of organizations and millions of individuals across clouds, networks, devices, and endpoints. As a leader in cloud and enterprise cybersecurity, the platform delivers a powerful range of advanced threat defense techniques optimized for environments like AWS, Microsoft, and Google, and central visibility for better, faster detection and response. With 7,000 employees across 65 countries, Trend Micro enables organizations to simplify and secure their connected world. www.trendmicro.com.hk.
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