Team Cincai, consisting of members Chi Siang (second from left), Teng Zheng (second from right), one APU student and one Sunway University student, in a group photo after winning Third Place in the ACS 2023 Hacking Contest.
TAR UMT students Choo Chi Siang and Wang Teng Zheng ensured they did not return from the Asean Cyber Shield (ACS) 2023 Hacking Contest empty-handed after finishing in Third Place (Student category) at the competition held on 21 – 24 November 2023 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Jointly organised by Korea Internet and Security Agency (KISA) and Indonesia’s National Cyber and Crypto Agency (BSSN), ACS is a competition that aims to foster collaboration and develop expertise in the cybersecurity field in the Asean region.
Entering the fray as ‘Team Cincai’, Chi Siang and Teng Zheng was joined by one Asia Pacific University student and one Sunway University student to make up one of the four Malaysian teams who participated in this competition that featured 37 teams from 10 countries in the Asean region.
The TAR UMT duo from the Bachelor of Information Technology (Hons) in Information Security were chosen after passing through a selection process conducted by the National Cyber Security Agency (NACSA).
“Honestly we were quite nervous after being told we would represent Malaysia, but after entering the competition hall and feeling the atmosphere, we were excited to show what we are capable of,” said Chi Siang.
Despite already possessing some competitive experience including being named champions of CYDES Cyber Warzone: Capture the Flag Challenge in July 2023, Chi Siang believes ACS 2023 was the toughest challenge he has encountered.
“The challenges presented in ACS was designed by the best cybersecurity experts from Korea, which are very tricky and requires us to be able to think and adapt on the fly. We were able to pull it off thanks to our experiences accumulated from previous cybersecurity competitions, and guidance from our coach Mr Wong Yik Han, who is also a TAR UMT alumnus,” he added.
Teng Zheng hopes this accomplishment will allow him more opportunities to participate in competitions.
“Competing helps us comprehend the subjects we are studying more effectively because we have to fully understand the topics to be able to apply them, like how when we are conducting tasks such as ethical hacking or penetration testing in ACS. In addition, it is quite a fun experience to see how our knowledge and skills stack up against our peers from other countries,” said Teng Zheng.
