The Russian team C4T BuT S4D emerged as the champion of the Kaspersky Security Analyst Summit (SAS) 2025 Capture the Flag (CTF) finals, held in Khao Lak, Thailand, on October 25–26. This year’s competition gathered over ten elite teams made up of professional CTF players, corporate specialists, and academic researchers. A total prize pool of US$18,000 was awarded to the top three teams.
A Global Showcase of Cyber Skills
The SAS CTF 2025 finals celebrated talent development and cybersecurity skill-building on a global scale. The finalists were drawn from two qualifying events earlier in the year—the SAS CTF online qualifiers and the Kaspersky (CTF) regional finals—which together attracted more than 2,500 teams worldwide. Thirteen of the best teams from Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific, and Latin America earned their place in the grand finals.
The finals were jointly sponsored by Kaspersky Academy and OtterSec, a group of independent security researchers. The event adopted a high-intensity attack-defense format, where participants had to simultaneously protect their own infrastructure while launching offensive operations on others. Each team began with identical servers containing vulnerable services. Their challenge was to identify, patch, and exploit vulnerabilities faster and more effectively than competitors. Scores were adjusted by each team’s Service Level Agreement (SLA) to reward consistent uptime and system stability.
Winners and Prizes
After two days of intense competition, C4T BuT S4D from Russia claimed first place, taking home US$10,000. The runner-up team SKSD from Indonesia earned US$5,000, while dtl from Russia secured third place with a US$3,000 reward.
Speaking after their victory, Artem Mikheev of the winning team praised the organization and competitiveness of the event:
“The competition was excellent. We faced many worthy opponents and discovered new ideas despite our experience. We’ll definitely return next year if given the chance.”
Advancing Cyber Collaboration
Igor Kuznetsov, Director of Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), congratulated all participants and emphasized the importance of collaboration:
“This year’s CTF was special because it brought together professionals, businesses, and academia. In cybersecurity, cooperation is our strongest defense, and we’ll continue supporting initiatives that build a stronger global cybersecurity culture.”
More Than a Competition
Finalists also attended SAS 2025 as full participants, gaining exclusive access to advanced cybersecurity talks, technical workshops, and networking sessions with global industry leaders.
Since its establishment in 2009, the Security Analyst Summit has become one of the most respected gatherings for cybersecurity experts. Each year, SAS focuses on a key theme shaping the digital security landscape. The 2025 edition centered on automotive security, a fast-emerging field that reflects the growing need to protect connected vehicles in an increasingly digital world.
For more information, visit the official Security Analyst Summit 2025 website.