Kookmin University (President Jung Seung-ryul) announced that the [CO-SHOW AutoHack 2024 (2024 Automobile Hacking Defense Competition)] held at the exhibition hall in Hall 1 and 2 of the West Building of EXCO in Daegu from November 20 to 22 was successfully completed. CO-SHOW AutoHack 2024 is the only competition in Korea that deals with automotive hacking and defense, providing an opportunity for Korean college students to present their unique technologies and creative solutions, and opening up new horizons in automotive cybersecurity.

The competition was co-hosted by the Future Automobile Consortium of the Convergence University Project for Innovative Convergence in Advanced Fields (hereinafter referred to as COSS) (led by Shin Sung-hwan (Kookmin University)) and the Data Security Utilization Convergence Consortium (led by Son Kyung-ho (Kangwon National University)), sponsored by Autocrypt and TOSUN, with Dreamhack and BusinessH4C as official sponsors, and using vehicles donated by Hyundai Motor Company and Volkswagen Group Korea. Forty-five students from 14 universities participating in COSS (including two joint-use universities) applied for the preliminary round, and 14 universities and 45 students were selected for the final round, where they competed fiercely.

The competition featured questions that dealt in depth with various security threats, including CAN-based attack data analysis, RF and BLE attacks, HW hacking scenarios, and intrusion detection system (IDS) attacks using CAN attack data.

The PhysicalLab team, a joint team of Kookmin University (Hwang Seung-jae and Kim Min-chan) and Konkuk University (Ko Yu-kyung), won the prestigious Minister of Education Award. They received high praise from the judges for their outstanding technical skills and creativity in defending against car hacking. The Director of the National Research Foundation Award went to the Inha University GTA team, the Chairman of the Council Award to the st3p_up team of Kangwon National University and Konkuk University, the Korea University (Sejong) team of Go Yun-jeong, Lee Na-kyung, and Shin Se-kyung, and the Project Director Award to the Kangwon National University team of Yukongil. The special award from the sponsor, Autocrypt, went to the Kyunghee University and Yeungnam University team of Oh Dot.

In the interviews with the winners, the common message was “fight a lot with your teammates.”

The winners of the KAIST President's Award were the Inha University GTA team, the KAIST Council Chairman's Award was won by the Kangwon National University & Konkuk University joint st3p_up team, the KAIST President's Award for the Best Project Team was won by the Korea University (Sejong) Ko Yoon-jung & Lee A-kyung & Shin Se-kyung Winter Team, the KAIST President's Award for the Best Project Team Leader was won by the Kangwon National University Yuk Gong-il team, and the special award from the sponsor Autocrypt was won by the Kyung Hee University & Yeungnam University Oh Dot-hyeok team. They emphasized the importance of cooperation, solving problems through many discussions and exchanges of opinions.

The successful hosting of this competition was due to the dedicated efforts of the participating faculty and staff. Professor Jeon Sang-hoon of Kookmin University's College of Automotive Convergence played a key role in the operation of the competition, working with Professor Lee Se-young of Kangwon National University's Department of Convergence Security. In addition, Kookmin University's Cyber Security Research Lab MoSE and Cyber Security Club KUSE actively supported the competition, enhancing its professionalism and completeness.

“This competition was a meaningful opportunity to see the capabilities and potential of Korean university students in the field of automotive cybersecurity,” said Kookmin University professor Jeon Sang-hoon, who took the lead in preparing for the competition. ”As the digitization of automotive technology accelerates, the importance of security is also growing. We expect that the talents discovered in this competition will contribute to the development of the future security industry.”

An official from Autocrypt, a sponsor of the competition, also said, “The innovative ideas and technologies shown by the participants are a ray of hope that brightens the future of automotive security.” We will continue to provide support so that young talents can demonstrate their capabilities on a larger stage.”