Drawing participation from more than 1,200 enthusiasts, Automotive CTF 2024 designed to address global shortage in automotive cybersecurity expertise

VicOne, an automotive cybersecurity solutions leader, and Block Harbor, a trusted automotive cybersecurity engineering company, today announced the team of Robbe Derks of Belgium and Greg Hogan of the United States as winner of the Automotive Capture the Flag (CTF) 2024 competition. An awards ceremony took place Oct. 23 at the Auto-ISAC Cybersecurity Summit in Detroit, home of VicOne’s U.S. operations.

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The 2024 Automotive CTF finalists and executives from VicOne and Block Harbor during the awards ceremony in Detroit (Photo: Business Wire)

Auto-ISAC (Automotive Information Sharing and Analysis Center) shares and analyzes intelligence about emerging cybersecurity risks to the vehicle and works to collectively enhance vehicle cybersecurity capabilities across the global automotive industry. Its eighth-annual summit showcased insights from manufacturers, suppliers, thought leaders, lawmakers, practitioners and other stakeholders from across the industry.

Automotive CTF 2024, Season 2 gave cybersecurity researchers with experience the opportunity to learn about the automotive context. (In the global qualification rounds, anyone with a laptop could participate.) Nearly 1,200 participants across more than 500 teams from around the world exchanged ideas, gained practical hands-on experience in real-world attack scenarios and linked with the growing automotive cybersecurity community focused on fortifying the future of connected cars. Competitors logged 360 hours of intense playtime, collectively solving 3,000 challenges, with six finalist teams being flown to Detroit for the grand showdown. In the grand finale event, the six finalists who topped the charts of the remote global competition were given a set of more difficult problems, hosted on actual automotive hardware such as clusters. The bulk of the challenges were developed via the RAMN platform (resistant automotive miniature network).

The team of Robbe Derks and Greg Hogan, called “greaterthan,” won the top prize of $35,000.

“It's a lot of fun to learn about these new systems,” Derks said. “The cars are getting more and more complex each model year, and security seems to be lagging behind a little bit. So it's good that people are working on this.”

Added Hogan: “I enjoyed the different challenges because they are so similar to real-world automotive issues that I already do sometimes in my free time. I certainly hope you'll see me again at CTF 2025.”

VicOne and Block Harbor spearheaded the Automotive CTF to address one of the automotive industry’s greatest pain points: the shortage of practitioners in vehicle cybersecurity. According to the 2023 Cybersecurity Workforce Study from ISc2, the nonprofit member organization for cybersecurity professionals, the workforce and demand for cybersecurity expertise continues to grow. ISc2 estimates the size of the global cybersecurity workforce at 5.5 million — a 9% increase from 2022, the highest ever recorded. However, the profession still needs to almost double to meet the industry needs, the ISc2 study showed.

Fostering Cross-Industry Talent Through the Automotive CTF

All of the finalist teams in the Automotive CTF 2024 came from the cybersecurity workforce, yet most had no prior experience in the automotive sector. This event serves as a bridge, fostering cross-pollination of talent and raising awareness about the growing opportunities in automotive cybersecurity.

For the broader audience that participated in the qualification rounds, including students and hobbyists, the event was an eye-opening experience. Through a Discord server and social channels, BlockHarbor received overwhelming feedback from players who were excited to learn about the career opportunity available in automotive cybersecurity—a field many hadn’t previously considered. Even seasoned CTF veterans from traditional IT security domains found the experience refreshing and unique. Tackling challenges focused on embedded systems and automotive environments provided them with new perspectives and opportunities to expand their expertise. The Automotive CTF continues to spotlight the dynamic and evolving landscape of automotive cybersecurity, inspiring professionals and newcomers alike to explore this critical field.

The Automotive CTF 2024 isn’t just a single event; it’s a platform for ongoing growth and skill development. Each year, after the competition ends, the challenges are retired into Block Harbor’s Proving Grounds on VSEC (Vehicle Security Engineering Cloud), accessible at vsec.blockharbor.io. This free, year-round resource allows participants to test their skills, build competencies and push their limits in automotive cybersecurity. The approach is inspired by the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP)—Carnegie Mellon University’s renowned CTF hacking team. Like the PPP, which offers a training environment with past challenges, BlockHarbor believes in fostering self-motivation and creating opportunities for learning beyond the competition. Block Harbor is passionate about empowering the next generation of automotive cybersecurity professionals to learn, grow and innovate.

“We were excited to host the Automotive CTF 2024 because it is clear that we need global growth in skills and competencies across the automotive security domain,” said Max Cheng, CEO, VicOne. “Automotive CTF 2024 also is a valuable platform for identifying weaknesses in simulated vehicle systems and even potentially uncovering automotive zero-day vulnerabilities, and we appreciate Auto-ISAC’s support of the event. ”

Added Brandon Barry, CEO, Block Harbor: “Congratulations to all of the participants in Automotive CTF 2024. We were committed to ensuring that the challenges were robust and innovative by designing, conducting and executing the competition through our VSEC platform. And we are already looking forward to next year with even tougher challenges and more competitors. It is wonderful to see that an industry body as established and respected as Auto-ISAC embrace the hacker community as integral collaborators in the future security of vehicles.”

Bryan Blancke, the Director or Labs and chairman of the CTF at Block Harbor said, “I am proud to host the Automotive CTF 2024 to grow awareness and recognize top talent in the arena of automotive cybersecurity. But I am especially happy to begin shifting the dynamic between automotive companies and the hacker community. I believe in the talents of these individuals, and if we as an industry can learn to harness the skills of the hacker community, we can build a world where security and safety co-exist.“

To learn more about Automotive CTF 2024, please visit the VicOne blog.

About Block Harbor

Block Harbor was established in 2014 in direct response to the Jeep Hack – the moment the industry took notice to the risk of cyberattacks to vehicles. In launching with several of the Automakers, Suppliers, and Auditors that were quick to act in vehicle cybersecurity, Block Harbor has always operated at the forefront, solving new challenges and building new solutions alongside our customers. Block Harbor’s platform, the Vehicle Security Engineering Cloud (VSEC), combined with Block Harbor’s services from our Vehicle Security Operations team and our Vehicle Cybersecurity Labs team leads the industry with solutions that are tailor fit for the mobility ecosystem. Learn more at blockharbor.io.

About VicOne

With a vision to secure the vehicles of tomorrow, VicOne delivers a broad portfolio of cybersecurity software and services for the automotive industry. Purpose-built to address the rigorous needs of automotive manufacturers and suppliers, VicOne solutions are designed to secure and scale with the specialized demands of the modern vehicle. As a Trend Micro subsidiary, VicOne is powered by a solid foundation in cybersecurity drawn from Trend Micro’s 30+ years in the industry, delivering unparalleled automotive protection and deep security insights that enable our customers to build secure as well as smart vehicles. For more information, visit vicone.com.

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