LABScon24 Replay | A Walking Red Flag (With Yellow Stars)

This report examines China’s extensive CTF ecosystem and its weaponization by state-linked organizations: APT40 used university CTFs to recruit hackers and source vulnerabilities, Jiangsu MSS received vulnerability reports from competitions like the Tianfu Cup, iSoon ran a CTF prior to a GitHub file leak, and intelligence cutouts attempted outreach to US participants. The briefing emphasizes the scale (150+ unique competitions; 400+ events since 2017), the role of military and intelligence hosts, and the implications for defensive CTI collection focused on individuals and events.