GMO Internet Group’s White-Hat Hackers Help “Blue Water” Take 1st Place in the World at the World’s Premier “DEF CON 34 CTF Finals”

～Bringing skills honed on the world stage back to society ～

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GMO Internet Group (TOKYO: 9449) fielded a group-wide team in the Capture The Flag (CTF) competition at “DEF CON 34,” the world’s premier security conference, held August 6–9, 2026 in Las Vegas, USA. In the “DEF CON CTF Finals,” contested only by teams that clear the qualifiers, “Blue Water” — an international joint team formed from squads in several countries, including engineers from GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae and GMO Flatt Security — took 1st place in the world.

After finishing 2nd in the world for three consecutive years, the team has finally taken the long-sought 1st place in the world, once again demonstrating the world-class skills of the white-hat hackers at GMO Internet Group.

GMO Internet Group will feed the knowledge gained on this world-class stage back into vulnerability assessments and product development and, under “GMO will protect your Internet Security,” will help realize a safe future for everyone by strengthening security at companies in Japan and cultivating the next generation of white-hat hackers.

[Participating Teams and Results]

Six teams from GMO Internet Group competed in the CTF at “DEF CON 34.”

	Team	Result
DEF CON CTF Finals	Blue Water (Joint Team)	1st place in the world
Village	GMO Ierae (IoT Village)	2nd place in the world
	GMO Ierae (Game Hacking Village)	3rd place in the world
	GMO Ierae (Blue Team Village)	4th place in the world
	GMO Ierae (Hardware Hacking Village)	4th place in the world
	GMO Ierae (Cloud Village)	9th place in the world

[The Team That Took 1st Place in the World]

“DEF CON CTF Finals”　Blue Water (Joint Team)

Comment from the team representative

Yuki Koike, Executive Officer / CTO, GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae

“‘Blue Water’ had finished 2nd for three consecutive competitions since 2023, falling just one step short of the championship each time, so we came into this year determined, above all else, to stand at the top. With CTF at a major turning point amid the rapid advance of AI, the competition carried a tension in which a moment’s delay could open a wide gap. But the members who gathered from many countries brought tremendous drive and each was able to bring their own strengths to bear, and I believe that is what led to the win.
I myself have kept competing since 2014, and this was my ninth Finals. To grasp the long-sought 1st place in the world together with my teammates, and to be able to answer everyone who supported us with a result, makes me truly happy.”

[Learn more]
https://gmo-cybersecurity.com/en/
https://flatt.tech/en/
https://group.gmo/en/