Justin Clark Ong, a student from the School of Computing and Information Technologies (SoCIT), achieved the highest rank in the Philippines during the FIRST Capture-the-Flag Challenge for ASEAN on July 25, 2024.
Ong, a third-year BS Computer Science student, attributes his success to a Computer Science elective that introduced him to essential cybersecurity tools like NMap and Wireshark, which are crucial for capture-the-flag challenges. He expressed gratitude to Akira Fidelino and his team from the previous Hack4Gov CTF for their support.
“I encourage others to start exploring the Linux command-line and practicing challenges at picoGym or by joining our JISSA CTF events,” Ong said. “My love for tinkering and experimenting with systems is a key part of how I approach CTF problems.”
The Virtual ASEAN challenge was organized by the Seclounge Special Interest Group (SIG) and supported by the Swiss Confederation, National Cyber Security Agency (NCSA), and the ASEAN Japan Cybersecurity Capacity Building Centre (AJCCBC). The challenge tests participants’ problem-solving skills in incident response scenarios.
