Capture-the-Flag Contest Ecosystems Pitched to Policymakers

Payoffs From China's Hacking Contests Feed Recommendations to Western Governments Mathew J. Schwartz (euroinfosec) • November 1, 2024

Western governments should take a page from Beijing's talent-development playbook and sponsor numerous capture-the-flag competitions to do a better job of fostering domestic cybersecurity hacking skills.

See Also: The Healthcare CISO’s Guide to Medical IoT Security

So recommends a report from Atlantic Council, "Capture the (red) flag: An inside look into China's hacking contest ecosystem," which details the People's Republic of China's world-leading use of hacking competitions.

"The system the PRC created is unparalleled with some competitions attracting hundreds of universities and tens of thousands of students," report co-author Dakota Cary, a nonresident fellow at Atlantic Council, said in a post to X. "The U.S. and other governments should be inspired by China's CTF ecosystem. They've earned it."

Chinese CTFs aid in ...