The international joint team Blue Water secured first place at the DEF CON 34 Capture The Flag (CTF) Finals in Las Vegas. Comprising engineers from GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae and GMO Flatt Security, the team overcame three consecutive years of second-place finishes. This victory at the world's premier security conference highlights the elite technical capabilities of GMO Internet Group's white-hat hacker divisions.
Blue Water Secures Global Championship
The DEF CON CTF Finals, held August 6–9, 2026, is an elite competition reserved exclusively for teams that successfully clear the qualifying rounds. After finishing as the runner-up for three straight years since 2023, the Blue Water joint team achieved the top global ranking. Yuki Koike, Executive Officer and CTO of GMO Cybersecurity by Ierae, noted that the competition intensity increased due to the rapid advancement of AI, where even minor delays can create significant gaps. The team's success relied on a diverse, international group of engineers leveraging specialized individual strengths to navigate high-pressure security challenges.
GMO Internet Group Security Performance
Beyond the primary championship, GMO Internet Group demonstrated significant depth across multiple specialized security disciplines. Six teams from the organization competed throughout the event. While Blue Water took the top spot, GMO Ierae squads secured high rankings in various "Villages," including 2nd place in the IoT Village, 3rd place in Game Hacking, and 4th place in both Blue Team and Hardware Hacking. The group also placed 9th in the Cloud Village. GMO Internet Group intends to integrate the intelligence gathered from this competition into its vulnerability assessments and product development workflows to strengthen enterprise security.
Key Takeaways
- The international joint team Blue Water won 1st place at the DEF CON 34 CTF Finals.
- GMO Ierae secured multiple top-five rankings in the IoT, Game Hacking, Blue Team, and Hardware Hacking Villages.
- GMO Internet Group plans to apply competition insights to enhance vulnerability assessments and product security.
TechInsyte's Take
In our view, Blue Water’s victory is a significant signal regarding the evolving nature of cybersecurity expertise. The mention of AI-driven tension during the competition suggests that the speed of exploitation is increasing, requiring even higher levels of human technical proficiency. For B2B leaders, this underscores that elite security talent is moving toward highly specialized, multi-disciplinary international collaboration. GMO Internet Group’s ability to dominate multiple "Villages" suggests a robust, scalable approach to security research that can be directly applied to enterprise-grade product hardening.
Questions & Answers
How does the DEF CON CTF Finals differ from standard security competitions?
The Finals are highly exclusive, contested only by teams that have successfully cleared the rigorous preliminary qualifying rounds, making it a premier benchmark for elite global talent.
What is the strategic implication of GMO Internet Group's multi-village performance?
The high rankings across IoT, Cloud, and Hardware villages demonstrate a broad-spectrum technical capability, suggesting the firm can provide specialized security expertise across diverse infrastructure layers.
How is AI impacting the landscape of high-level cybersecurity competitions?
According to Yuki Koike, the rapid advancement of AI has increased competitive tension, as the margin for error has narrowed, requiring faster and more precise technical responses.
How will GMO Internet Group utilize the results of this competition?
The company plans to feed the knowledge gained from the competition back into its vulnerability assessments and product development processes to improve security offerings.
Source: Businesswire
