SIT’s Information and Communications Technology (ICT) cluster celebrated exemplary achievements at two global competitions in December.

• Year 2 students from the Information and Communications Technology (Information Security) degree programme, Tan Guan Hong, Roysten Ng Kiang Ann, Muhammad Farid Bin Shafie, along with Assistant Professor Goh Weihan, clinched first place at the United Nations Cybersecurity Challenge: Countering Digital Terrorism in Vienna, Austria from 5 to 6 December 2019, beating 12 other teams from countries including the United States, Spain, Brazil and Malaysia.

• Year 3 student from the Information and Communications Technology (Information Security) degree programme, Yu Pengfei, represented his team at the Kaspersky Secur'IT Cup 2019 Grand Finals on 5 December 2019 in Lisbon, Portugal, achieving first runner-up position. He was only a few points away from the winning team from Russia.

Champions of the United Nations Cybersecurity Challenge: Countering Digital Terrorism

Holding certificates from left to right: Tan Guan Hong, Muhammad Farid Bin Shafie, Roysten Ng Kiang Ann and Assistant Professor Goh Weihan; with organisers from the United Nations (UN) Counter-Terrorism Centre, the UN Office of Counter-Terrorism, the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology, the UN Technology Innovation Labs and the Austrian Institute of Technology.

To encourage talents to step up in the fight against digital terrorism, an international hackathon for youth between age 18 and 38 was collectively held by the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism (UNOCT), the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology (OICT), the UN Technology Innovation Labs (UNTIL) and the Austrian Institute of Technology (AIT).

The winning team from SIT, comprising Tan Guan Hong, Roysten Ng Kiang Ann, Muhammad Farid Bin Shafie, as well as Assistant Professor Goh Weihan, presented a ‘Forensics in a USB stick’ solution that can be used to collect forensic data from computing equipment used by terrorists. By plugging the USB into the hardware, data can be harvested and ready for analysis. The solution will be made open source, and is under review by UNTIL and the OICT Digital Blue Helmets Team to possibly be implemented by UNTIL Labs.

The solution presented by the SIT team was refined from a project that was previously developed during their Digital Forensics module, together with a larger team at SIT.

“It’s our first international competition and we’re grateful to have been able to represent the university. The trip proved to be beneficial in many ways. It was a truly eye-opening experience and we hope to participate in more competitions in the future!” said Guan Hong.

Each member of the winning team was awarded certificates denoting their achievement, on top of their all-expenses paid trip to Vienna, Austria for the competition.

Watch the hackathon video highlights here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkJKt-LrtJU

First Runner-Up at the Kaspersky Secur'IT Cup 2019 Grand Finals

Year 3 ICT (IS) student Yu Pengfei accepting the award on behalf of his team N0H4Ts.

The final round of the Secur’IT Cup 2019 that took place at Kaspersky Academy Partner’s Summit, held in Lisbon, Portugal, saw SIT’s third-year student Yu Pengfei achieving the first runner-up place on behalf of his team, which comprises Lim Hong Xuan and Muhammad Aizuddin Akmal Bin Kamim.

The annual global competition by Kaspersky unites budding cybersecurity experts from all over the world, with the aim of helping to create a safer cyber future. The final round of Secur’IT Cup 2019 saw 27 finalists from Bahrain, Bangladesh, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, India, Iran, Russian Federation, Singapore, Spain and Ukraine, who presented projects to a jury consisting of Kaspersky and industry experts.

Yu Pengfei presented his team’s ‘Automated Android Mobile Application Obfuscator’ project, a platform that empowers users to create customised obfuscation, the deliberate act in software development where the original source is manipulated, making it extremely difficult for humans to understand, in an effort to enhance cyber security. With the aid of artificial intelligence, the platform aims to obfuscate applications through an automated process, with the option of letting the user customise where necessary.

“The Secur'IT Cup allowed me to meet like-minded individuals from other countries, and exchange cyber security tips with them. I encourage my fellow SITizens to participate in more competitions for their personal development, and seize the opportunity to represent SIT on the global stage,” said Pengfei.

The project came a close second to the first prize winner, and garnered praise from the panel of judges. Pengfei and his team bagged an all-expenses paid trip to the Kaspersky Security Analysts’ Summit 2020 in Barcelona from 6 to 9 April 2020.

Congratulations and keep flying the SIT flag high, SITizens!