Overview
Team BunkyoWesterns, which includes our members, competed in the General track of CODEGATE 2026 CTF Finals held in Seoul, South Korea, and took 1st place worldwide. The first-place prize is ₩50,000,000.
What is CODEGATE CTF
CODEGATE CTF is one of the flagship international CTFs based in South Korea. Only top teams from around the world that advance through the online qualifiers are invited to the on-site Finals in Seoul. This year's CODEGATE 2026 CTF Finals ran over two days from July 23 to July 24, 2026, in Seoul. The General track was held non-stop for 24 hours in a Jeopardy format, with challenges spanning a broad range of categories reflecting the latest security and technology trends.
Results
The team was the fastest to solve every challenge in the event and seized 1st place worldwide. Multiple teams from Japanese companies and teams including Japanese members also competed, and the team pulled ahead of them by a wide margin to secure the top spot.
As champions, the team has been recorded in the Hall of Fame among the historic winners. They have also secured an invitation to next year's CODEGATE 2027 CTF Finals.
Comparison with AI-Only Teams
The event also had teams composed entirely of AI agents, so AI-driven solving ran in parallel throughout the competition. Our team competed with a setup that incorporated AI agents independently composed and enhanced by our members, and held a top position at a solve speed that outpaced the AI-only teams. Even at the same underlying model level, actual solve speed shifts dramatically depending on whether the agent composition and harness design are tuned for the target domain.
The Team and Our Involvement
Many of our members and members from partner companies participate in BunkyoWesterns. We support the team's on-site participation by covering part of their travel costs and through similar arrangements. The implementation strength built by cycling between attacker-perspective vulnerability research and the design and operation of AI agents in-house translates directly into practical assets for vulnerability research and assessment in our work, not only into CTF results.
Ongoing Vulnerability Research
We provide AI-driven security assessment and consulting services grounded in this hands-on expertise. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us.