Carnegie Mellon’s hacking team wins eighth DEF CON Capture-the-Flag title

(Photo: Business Wire)

Carnegie Mellon University’s hacking team, the Plaid Parliament of Pwning (PPP), has secured its eighth victory at the DEF CON Capture-the-Flag (CTF) competition. 

This marks the team’s third consecutive win at the event, which is considered one of the most prestigious hacking competitions globally.

The PPP team collaborated with Carnegie Mellon alumnus Robert Xiao's team, Maple Bacon, and hackers from the startup Theori.io, competing under the name Maple Mallard Magistrates (MMM). The DEF CON CTF competition, held annually in Las Vegas, challenges teams to defend their systems while attempting to breach others, collecting virtual "flags" to score points.

The event brought together 12 of the world’s top teams, selected from a pool of 1,742, to compete over three days. Despite initial setbacks that left PPP in third place at the end of the first day, the team improved its standing on the second day and ultimately pulled ahead of its competitors in the final hours to win the title.

Team captain Ethan Oh, a recent graduate from Carnegie Mellon’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, described the competition as challenging but noted that the team remained focused on climbing the leaderboard.

 “It was mildly worrying after the first day, but we kept climbing up. After the official portion of the contest ended each day, we quickly identified what needed to be done and who should work on what in order to win,” Oh said.

The Plaid Parliament of Pwning was established in 2009 and has participated in DEF CON since 2010. The team has consistently performed well, with previous victories in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2022, and 2023, and second-place finishes in other years. The team also recently won its third consecutive title at the MITRE embedded Capture-the-Flag event (eCTF).

Former PPP captain Jay Bosamiya, a Carnegie Mellon Computer Science Department alumnus, highlighted the importance of teamwork and communication within the group.

 “Our secret to effective communication within the team is that we are a group of friends who love to hang out with each other, even outside of CTFs,” Bosamiya said.

In addition to competing, members of PPP contribute to Carnegie Mellon’s annual picoCTF, a hacking competition aimed at middle and high school students. The event has grown to include an undergraduate leaderboard and several regional leaderboards, helping to foster the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.