NCL Technology Updates

The International Cybersecurity Olympiad (ICO) is a global event inspired by renowned competitions such as the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) and the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). The School of Computing at the National University of Singapore (NUS) hosted the inaugural International Cybersecurity Olympiad from 22 to 28 June 2025. Over 200 participants, including contestants, team leaders, and guests from 28 countries, including Singapore, took part in the first edition of the Olympiad. The Opening Ceremony was held at Auditorium 2, University Town (U-Town), NUS. During the ceremony, Professor Tan Kian Lee, Dean of the School of Computing, NUS, delivered the welcome address. The Guest of Honour, Mr. Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State at the Ministry of Digital Development and Information, delivered the keynote speech and officially launched the International Cybersecurity Olympiad 2025. The ceremony also featured team introductions and cultural performan...

GreyHats CTF 2025 The GreyHats CTF 2025, an annual Capture The Flag (CTF) cybersecurity competition, was held on June 28–29, 2025, at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS). Jointly hosted by NUS GreyHats and Division Zero (Div0) and supported by the National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL), the event brought together some of the brightest cybersecurity minds from Singapore and around the world. The top 20 local teams from the qualifiers advanced to the 24-hour onsite finals at NUS. A total of 80 participants competed in person, showcasing their technical skills, perseverance, and teamwork under intense pressure. The onsite finals featured challenges across a wide range of categories, including Web Exploitation, Binary Exploitation, Reverse Engineering, Blockchain, Cryptography, and Miscellaneous. This year’s edition saw overwhelming participation in the online qualifiers, held on May 31 – June 1, 2025, with 2,674 participants from 1,131 teams: ...

National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) is happy to announce the successful conclusion of the 2nd International Junior Cybersecurity Olympiad (IJCO) , held on the 7th of December 2024, at the Hilton Bomonti Hotel and Conference Center in Istanbul, Turkey. This year’s IJCO witnessed 93 participants (52 onsite and 41 online) from 11 countries , ranging from Grade 7 to Grade 12 , competing in a challenging 4-hour Capture the Flag (CTF) contest. IJCO was a highlight of the STEAM Ahead 2024 Finals , alongside other prestigious competitions like the International Junior Arts Olympiad, International Junior Informatics Olympiad, Vanda International Junior Science Olympiad, and the International Junior Math Olympiad. In total, 1,735 contestants (719 onsite and 1,016 online) from 30 countries competed in the STEAM Ahead 2024 Finals Competitions. The grand award ceremony for all competitions took place on December 10, 2024. Students who competed in the IJCO contest were awar...

The National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) participated in the ninth edition of the Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) – GovWare Exhibition & Conference , which took place from 15-17 October 2024, at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre in Singapore. The Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW) is the Asia-Pacific’s most established cybersecurity event organised by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) . Under the theme of “Trust and Security in the Digital Era” , SICW 2024 aimed to drive critical conversations and partnerships to foster trust and enhance security in the digital and cyber domain. The NCL team was present throughout all three days at the Institutes of Higher Learning (IHL) pavilion , sharing insights about NCL's cloud services, tools, projects, and training programs, including cyber exercises and Capture the Flags (CTFs), and various opportunities available such as internships and scholarships. This year’s exhibition provided a pla...

GreyHats CTF 2024 , a Capture The Flag competition hosted jointly by NUS GreyHats and Division Zero (Div0) , and supported by the National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) , took place on July 27th and 28th, 2024, at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore (NUS). Over 80 participants from the top 20 teams of the GreyHats online qualifier competed in the onsite finals. Approximately 1,713 participants across 776 teams (549 international teams & 227 local teams) were participated in the qualifier. The CTF featured challenges from various categories, including Web Exploitation, Binary Exploitation, Reverse Engineering, Blockchain, Cryptography, and Miscellaneous. This year, GreyHats also hosted a summit on August 10th, 2024, at the School of Computing, NUS. The event featured talks and workshops on cybersecurity, offered students the opportunity to engage with our sponsors to explore opportunities, and the summit concluded with the CTF prize presenta...

The National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) was in Estonia from April 22 to 26 2024 to participate in Locked Shield 2024, the world’s most advanced live-fire cyber defense exercise hosted by the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defense Center of Excellence (CCDCOE) . Over 4000 experts from more than 40 nations participated in Locked Shield 2024 , training to protect the infrastructure of a fictional nation in a simulated environment. As part of the DFIR development team, NCL developed a set of evidence and CTF questions based on NCL's RAIL SYSTEM Cyber Range . NCL would like to thank NATO CCDCOE for giving us the opportunity to participate in Locked Shield 2024. All the participants confronted a series of challenges that replicate the complexity of real-world cyber defense, including critical thinking, strategic decision-making, legal considerations, crisis communication, and strategic planning, all aimed at bolstering their cyber defense capabilities. The exercise aim...

Over 500 youths participated in the Advanced Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (A.YCEP) X HackBash 2024 in March, with 180 youths attending an on-site cybersecurity training bootcamp. Participants were trained in foundational cybersecurity topics like Steganography, Cryptography, and OSINT, and were also provided with information on cybersecurity career opportunities. The top 80 students then competed in teams of four in the final Capture-The-Flag competition. The final CTF held on March 16, 2024, at the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre of Excellence (ASCCE) in Singapore! The winning teams are Team 6 (First Place), Team 9 (Second Place) and Team 16 (Third Place).The top team walking away with a grand prize of SGD 800 . Congratulations to all the winners and participants. CSA co-organised the event with NUS Greyhats, Bakkhos Labs, Horangi Cyber Security - a Bitdefender company and the National Cybersecurity R&D Lab (NCL).

The National Cybersecurity R&D Lab (NCL) supported the STEAM AHEAD Global Finals 2023 (7-11 Dec 2023), organized by the Singapore International Mastery Contests Centre (SIMCC) in Bali, Indonesia. The event aimed to provide students with international exposure and education in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM). The STEAM AHEAD Global Finals 2023 featured three categories, and NCL co-organized the “International Junior Cybersecurity Olympiad 2023 CTF competition”, collaborating with the NUS Centre for Nurturing Computer Excellence. Notably, Professor Chang Ee Chien and Liu Yuancheng from NCL were honored to serve as judges for the International Junior Cybersecurity Olympiad 2023 CTF competition. Prior to the Bali event, NCL conducted four cybersecurity training sessions and a pre-training session before the competition. These sessions covered a wide range of concepts, incorporating Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs) presented in the form ...

The National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) participated in Crossed Swords 2023, which took place in Estonia from December 11 to 14, 2023. Crossed Swords 23 (XS23) is an exercise designed to train the cyber specialists conduct successfully full-spectrum offensive cyber operations. More than 20 countries, including NATO and non-NATO member states, participated in Crossed Swords 2023. NATO CCDCOE has been organizing the exercise since 2016 and the first red teaming workshop was conducted in 2014. Starting in 2019, the exercise included a designated cyber command element in its training. CCDCOE-led exercises and research provide its member nations with a testbed for experimentation in cyber operations. Crossed Swords tests the capabilities and practices skills that participants would need when planning and executing a full-spectrum cyber operations, especially with elements from the other domains. The training audience includes not only cyber operators, but also digital foren...

National Cybersecurity R&D Lab (NCL) had the opportunity to support Critical Infrastructure Defence Exercise (CIDeX) 2023 from 22nd November to 24th November 2023 held at the School of Computing, National University Singapore (NUS). The event involves over 200 participants coming from DIS, CSA and 24 other national agencies across six Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) Sectors. Mr. Heng Chee How, the Senior Minister of State for Defence, and Dr. Janil Puthucheary, the Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information and Health, attended the Critical Infrastructure Defence Exercise (CIDeX) 2023 on 24th of November 2023. The event focuses on training and strengthening Whole-Of-Government (WoG) cyber capabilities to detect and tackle cyber security threats to Information Technology (IT) and OT networks that control the operations of critical infrastructure. NCL would like to express gratitude to MINDEF and Cybersecurity Agency of Singapore (CSA) for prov...

National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory participated in the GovWare 2023 Conference and Exhibition held on 17-19 Oct 2023 at MBS Expo and Convention Center, Singapore. Under the theme “Fostering Trust Through Collaboration in the New Digital Reality”, GovWare 2023, a part of the renowned Singapore International Cyber Week (SICW), was set to deliver transformative insights that address the ever-evolving cybersecurity landscape. GovWare 2023 was supported by the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) and a network of community partners across the region. Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr. Heng Swee Keat visited our booth on the 1st day of GovWare 2023. NCL Lead Principal Investigator and Associate Professor Dr Chang Ee-Chien shared insights about NCL’s current research and interesting ongoing projects to the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore. NCL express its gratitude to Cyber Security Agency of Singapore for the opportunity. GovWare 2023 provided an excellent opportuni...

The National Cybersecurity R&D Laboratory (NCL) at the School of Computing, NUS, was one of the exhibitors at Cybersecurity Innovation Day 2023, held on the 29th of September 2023, at the MBS Expo and Convention Centre, Singapore. During the event, Mrs. Josephine Teo, the Minister for Communications and Information and Minister-in-charge of Smart Nation and Cybersecurity , announced that two Cybersecurity Centers will be established at local universities, receiving an impressive $110 million in funding as part of a plan to grow Singapore as a cyber-security hub. To address the growing demand for robust cybersecurity solutions, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is partnering with the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) to establish a new S$20 million NUS-CSA CyberSG Talent, Innovation and Growth (TIG) Collaboration Centre. This event provided an excellent opportunity to connect with local cybersecurity companies, professionals, and researchers. It also offere...

The Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (YCEP) Central Capture-the-Flag 2023 competition took place on the 25th of July 2023, in conjunction with WorldSkills ASEASN 2023, at Suntec Convention Centre witnessed close to 70 finalists from different schools. Photo by Cyber Security Agency of Singapore The competition was organized by CSA, with the support of National Cybersecurity R&D Lab (NCL) and Cisco Systems, aimed to ignite the passion for cybersecurity among young talents and foster a vibrant cyber community. We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to all students who showcased their incredible skills and determination throughout the competition. Congratulations to all the individual winners, as well as the top three group winners, Team 06, Team 13, and Team 10. Photo by Cyber Security Agency of Singapore We were honoured to have Mr. Tan Kiat How, Senior Minister of State for Communications and Information and Senior Minister of State for National Development,...

The GreyHats CTF 2023 event, jointly organized by the National Cybersecurity R&D Lab (NCL) and NUS Greyhats , took place from July 15th to 16th, 2023, at the School of Computing, National University of Singapore. The event witnessed the participation of 90 finalists who formed 15 teams , including 5 international teams and 10 local teams . These 90 finalists had previously competed in the GreyHats qualifier rounds and successfully qualified for the NUS GreyHats CTF 2023 event. The qualifier rounds attracted participation from more than 1600 individuals representing 454 teams (314 international teams & 140 local teams) . Greyhats is the largest student-led information security interest group based in NUS. The members of Greyhats are enthusiastic students with strong technical skills, keen to spread the love of cyber-exercises. NCL is a research lab established in 2015, funded by National Research Foundation, under the National Cybersecurity R&D (NCR) Programme. It...

The National Cybersecurity R&D Lab (NCL) would like to express our gratitude to the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) for including NCL as a co-partner in the Advanced Youth Cyber Exploration Programme (AYCEP) held on June 6-7, 2023. Approximately 70-80 finalists qualified and participated in the final Capture The Flag (CTF) competition and tabletop exercise, which took place at the ASEAN-Singapore Cybersecurity Centre for Excellence on June 7, 2023. NCL was also a part of the judging panel for the tabletop exercise. Together with Horangi, NCL provided technical training on Day 1 of AYCEP to prepare the participants for the CTF challenge. AYCEP showcased the immense potential and passion of Singapore's youth in the field of cybersecurity and provided a platform for collaboration, learning, and growth. It was an incredible experience witnessing the dedication, problem-solving skills, and teamwork displayed by the participants as they tackled challenging questio...

We want to see whether ChatGPT or other AI (MS-New_Bing or Google Bard) are able to help the user to go to some test environment to run cmd to solve the CTF challenges (Understand the challenge question and capture the flag). In this test case we will create a test environment to test ChatGPT and other AI's performance on solving a web-exploitation CTF challenges. We will build a CTF challenge question and related test environment as an example, we will also show how to use the Jailbreak Prompt such as Always Intelligent and Machiavellian chatbot prompt (AIM) to simplify the process (such as bypass most of OpenAI’s policy guidelines). Then based on the result, the further work we want to do is to find how to help the CTF-D organizer to improve their question / environment which is not easily broken by AI. Capture The Flags, or CTFs, are a kind of computer security competition. Teams of competitors (or just individuals) are pitted against each other in a test of computer securi...