At the end of last year, an Ethical Hacking contest took place in China, known as the Zhujian Cup. Unlike typical hacker competitions held on closed virtual platforms, this contest required participants to work on a real network. This raised concerns among researchers, as it deviated from the usual setup of such events.
Organized by the North-Western Polytechnic University in Sian, the Zhujian Cup did not disclose which companies provided the network infrastructure for the competition, leading to suspicions that the participants may have been engaging in actual reconnaissance activities rather than simulated exercises.
Participants were required to sign a document agreeing to keep the tasks secret, not destroy the targets, and erase any traces of their actions. This level of secrecy and legal obligations added a layer of mystery to the competition, hinting that the hackers may have been operating within a real network.
Researchers from Western universities who analyzed the competition found several suspicious details, such as the need to remove installed backdoors in attacked systems. Typically, such actions are unnecessary in virtual environments, suggesting that the participants may have breached real networks.
The Zhujian Cup took place during the holiday season in December, a time when many businesses operated on reduced schedules and were potentially more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Over 200 students participated in the contest’s three stages, with the final stage, known as the “public goal,” drawing particular attention from researchers due to its potential connection to a real network.
While there is no direct evidence that students actually breached real networks during the Zhujian Cup, researchers from the Atlantic Council estimate an 85% probability based on the unusual conditions of the competition. Cybersecurity competitions in China have gained importance since 2015, following revelations of large-scale cyber operations conducted by the United States, prompting China to focus on developing internal contests like CTF to enhance national cybersecurity.