Japan - Can Japan embrace white-knight hackers?

A contest to choose the nation's top hackers, known as "Capture the Flag" (CTF), will be held for the first time on Saturday and Sunday at the Kyushu Institute of Technology in Fukuoka Prefecture.

Hacking contests, in which participants compete using their computer skills and knowledge of information security, are seen as gateways to careers in information technology.

But in Japan, holding these contests has been viewed as taboo because of a perception that hackers are criminals.

As cyber-attacks have continued against the defense industry and central government entities, CTF contests have finally been recognized as opportunities to foster talent in the field.

Attention is focused on whether participants will use their skills to benefit society, as opposed to the common perception of hackers in the country--mainly seen as criminals. The contest hopes to help foster hackers who can work globally.

CTF is a cyberwar game in which participants use their hacking skills to attempt to access an opponent's server while defending their own server from opposing attacks.

The event is named CTF because participants will compete to capture information stored in the server, likening the information to a flag.

A Japanese team named "Sutegoma 2," which is comprised of professionals and university students, advanced to the final of the CTF tournament at last year's DEF CON, a hacking contest that is considered the toughest in the world. The team attracted a great deal of attention at the event.

The event this weekend has been organized by a group of 12 volunteers, including researchers and technicians working for information security companies. They managed to organize the event thanks to sponsors including Tokyo-based NTT Data Interlink Corp.

The event is a regional qualifying round. Seven teams, comprising mainly students from the Kyushu Institute of Technology, the University of Tsukuba, Nagoya University and Kumamoto Technical College, are scheduled to take part in the event. Each team will have four members.

The contest uses an exam to test participants' knowledge of cyberwar games. The teams will be asked to solve 50 questions about encryption, programming, networking and other skills within a 10-hour time limit.

Preliminary contests will also be held in the Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Kansai and Chugoku regions. Winners in the regions will compete in a national competition.

Yoshinori Takesako, 34, who chairs the organizing committee of the event, said, "We want to discover young technicians who can play important roles in future information security."

The history of CTF events overseas is long. At DEF CON, a festival for hackers held every summer in Las Vegas, about 300 teams from all over the world participate in the CTF competition.

Some government officials reportedly visit the CTF final to recruit talented participants because of the competitors' high skill level.

In South Korea, where the government is frequently targeted in cyber-attacks, hacking contests, which mainly attract students, are popular partly thanks to government support.

Similar events have been regularly held also in Russia, Malaysia and the Netherlands.

In Japan, however, such hacking contests were rarely held because the word 'hacker' which in Japanese originally referred to people with extremely high computer and networking skills, was mixed up with 'cracker,' for those who use their skills for illegal activity.

In 2003, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry planned a CTF contest for high school students, called "Hacker Koshien." But the plan was withdrawn due to objections from those who complained the government was fostering criminals.

However, in the wake of cyber-attacks against companies--including Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.--and the government, CTF events are viewed as opportunities to foster talent.

After the cancellation of Hacker Koshien, the industry ministry has been holding a "Security & Programming Camp" every year. As part of the camp, a quiz-style CTF competition has been held since 2010.

Starting next fiscal year, public funding for the event will be reduced, but the ministry plans to solicit contributions of at least 500,000 yen from private companies and ask them to become involved in organizing the event.

So far, 26 companies plan to take part in the event, according to officials.

News Desk

The Yomiuri Shimbun

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