A Vietnamese student team was named the first prize winner of the 2021 ASEAN Students Contest on Information Security (ASCIS) on Saturday following their victory in virtual hacking games.

The finale of ASCIS 2021 was contested by 10 teams from Vietnam, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Singapore, and Thailand, who were shortlisted after passing two qualifying rounds in October.

This year marks the 14th time the contest has been organized for Vietnamese students and the third time its eligibility has been expanded to include students from the ASEAN region.

The teams competed on Saturday in games of ‘King of the Hill’ or ‘Attack and Defense,’ a mode of cybersecurity competition where candidates must guard their hosts or services against hacking attempts from their rivals – all while trying to launch attacks on the opponents' digital security vulnerabilities.

Vietnamese teams had to compete onsite in Hanoi, while foreign teams were allowed to participate online, according to the ASCIS website.

After eight hours of competition, team Pawsitive from the VNU University of Engineering and Technology snatched the top prize, while N0nSlaS from the southern campus of Vietnam’s Academy of Cryptography Techniques and HCMUS.BlackPink from the University of Science under the Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City were named runners-up.

Three third-place positions went to Vietnamese student teams, namely UIT.Underrated, BkSec.Oggy, and Madagascar.

The first prize consists of US$600 and a $1,000 discount vouncher for online training services, while each runner-up team will receive $200 less in cash.

Organizers say they will raise the prizes higher for next year’s competition to attract more ASEAN contestants.

ASCIS is part of the annual event 'Vietnam Information Security Day' organized by the Vietnam Information Security Association under the sponsorship of the Ministry of Information and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Training of Vietnam.

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