PLUS(POSTECH Laboratory for Unix Security) took the third ranking in the ‘2009 DEFCON 17 CTF(Capture the Flag)’competition, the most famous hacking contest in the world, held in Las Vegas, the United States, from July 31 to Aug. 2. This is the best performance for Korean participatants in the history of this contest.

At the preliminary contest held in June, PLUS ranked fourth out of 500 teams from all over the world and became one of the 10 teams which advanced to the final. But on the first day of the final, they ranked only 6th because they had not adapted to unfamiliar circumstances and rules. To make up for this poor showing, they even stayed up all night and skipped some meals, and finally took the third ranking after VedaGodz(an American team) and Routards(a French team).

“I am very pleased that PLUS was ranked third, which has not been achieved by Korean teams ever to date.” said Jang Joon-ho(PLUS leader). He continued, “I thought we had prepared a lot, but we had some weak points to make up for. If we participate in the following contest, we will prepare for it thoroughly to win the first prize.”

Founded for POSTECH’s network security in 1992, PLUS positioned itself as one of the representative security groups in Korea by taking the top in several hacking competitions. As an example, they won the first prize in the ‘Codegate 2008 International Hacking Protection Competition’ held in Seoul.