On March 18, Han Jong-kyung, a team leader currently enrolled in the AI MBA Cohort 6 at Sogang University, received an award at the hacking competition “Hack the Real,” hosted by EQST, the white hacker organization of SK Shieldus.

Unlike traditional puzzle-based formats, this competition was designed with a strong focus on practical, real-world scenarios. It covered the latest security issues, including incident response analysis, financial sector security assessments, mobile security bypass techniques, and vulnerability analysis in artificial intelligence (AI) and large language models (LLMs). In particular, the competition emphasized evaluating participants’ ability to analyze threats from an attacker’s perspective and derive effective response strategies.

Approximately 300 participants took part in the competition, which featured 18 missions across seven categories, including web, mobile, AI, LLM, system (pwnable), browser, Internet of Things (IoT), ransomware, and reversing. Participants were assessed on their comprehensive practical capabilities by analyzing vulnerabilities and proposing countermeasures based on real-world cyber incident cases and security auditing techniques.

An official from SK Shieldus commented, “Beyond simply evaluating technical skills, this competition served as an opportunity to strengthen real-world response capabilities in an increasingly sophisticated cyber threat environment. We plan to continue research and hands-on training to proactively address security threats based on AI and automation technologies.”