KU student hacker club CyKor racks up prizes

Korea University’s student hacker club, named CyKor, has recently racked up prizes in several global hacking contests. Since CyKor won its first championship in the DEFCON Hacking Conference last August, the team has continued to receive trophies in every single contest it participated in: Trend Micro CTF 2015 Asia & Japan (November 2015), HITCON (November 2015), SECCON (November 2016), and Code Gate Hacking Competition.

In addition to its global victories, the team has been successful in maintaining the top position in domestic competitions. In the KISA HDCON (Hacking Defense Contest), which has the longest history among domestic hacking contests, the team achieved its second consecutive victory this year. Furthermore, at WITHCON, which is jointly organized by the National Intelligence Service and Ministry of Defense, the student hackers also placed first. CyKor, a short term for Cyber security club at Korea University, is a hacker club belonging to the Department of Cyber Defense.

On November 22, KU President Jaeho Yeom invited CyKor to Inchon Chamber at the university’s Main Hall. He personally congratulated the team and encouraged the students. CyKor, which is an abbreviation for Cyber Security Club at Korea University, was formed in 2011 as an affiliated student club of KU’s Graduate School of Information Security and later moved to the Department of Cyber Defense at Korea University. Since its foundation, the team has poured its efforts into hacking for almost four years. Currently, CyKor is regarded as the best among college student hacker clubs.

Professor Seung-joo Kim, who has been the advisor for the team since its establishment, said, “KAIST and POSTECH had an early start in the field of information security, yet I am proud to say that our students have made greater achievements than the students from those universities.” It is noteworthy that CyKor has created a self-help system to support themselves without any external assistance. Prize money is all used to support the club members, especially junior students, to participate in contests and learn from first-hand experiences.

President Yeom said, “I heard that the University of California at Irvine has made an investment in the potential of unique subjects such as video games. I will ensure that our university can prepare for future industrial developments by revamping the admission system and educational programs.”