CMU Hacking Team Wins DEF CON Capture-the-Flag Title

The winningest team in DEF CON’s Capture-the-Flag (CTF) competition history, Carnegie Mellon University’s Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), won its third consecutive title, earning its eighth victory in the past 12 years.

PPP joined forces with CMU alum and University of British Columbia Professor Robert Xiao's team, Maple Bacon, and hackers from CMU alum startup Theori.io (The Duck), playing under the name Maple Mallard Magistrates (MMM).

DEF CON’s three-day flagship competition, widely considered the “Olympics” of hacking, brought together some of the world’s most talented cybersecurity professionals, researchers, and students, as 12 of the world’s top teams (who qualified from a field of 1,742 teams) attempted to break each other’s systems, stealing virtual flags and accumulating points while simultaneously protecting their own systems.

Read more about the team and this year's competition on the CyLab website.