The Codegate Security Forum said on the 21st that it will hold Codegate 2026, an international hacking defense competition and global conference, for two days from July 23 to 24 at the Grand Ballroom of Coex in Seoul.
Now in its 18th year, Codegate's theme is "The road to becoming one of the world's top three AI powers: security." As the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent attacks increases, the event was planned with the recognition that cybersecurity capabilities are the core of AI competitiveness.
In this competition, an AI hacker jointly developed by the Codegate Security Forum and KAIST will participate in the finals as an actual contestant. Human white-hat hackers and AI will solve the same problems to find system vulnerabilities.
A total of 3,333 people from 88 countries will compete in this year's finals. They passed the preliminaries, which recorded the largest size in the past three years, and the finals will be divided into a general division that runs for 24 hours and a junior division that runs for 12 hours. The competition will be held in a Jeopardy-style format, solving problems to obtain "flags." The total prize money is 71 million won, and the winning team in the general division will receive 50 million won and an automatic berth in the following year's finals.
On the 24th, a conference featuring AI and cybersecurity experts from Korea and abroad will also be held. The keynote will be delivered by Kim Tae-su, Microsoft (MS) vice president of security research.
Kim led Team Atlanta, which took first place in the final round of the AI Cyber Challenge (AIxCC) hosted by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). In this talk, he plans to reveal the winning strategy that combined large language models (LLMs) with classic program analysis techniques to automatically detect and patch vulnerabilities in large-scale open-source software, along with future technical challenges.
Also taking the stage as presenters will be Michael Gronager, co-founder of the global Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis and head of Grye AI, and Luis Luo, head of global communications for cybersecurity and privacy at Huawei. In an open talk session moderated by KAIST Professor Kim Yong-dae, experts from Korea and abroad will gather to discuss "cybersecurity in the AI era."
Before the main event, a hands-on security training course will run from the 21st to the 23rd. The AI startup hackathon, co-hosted by the Codegate Security Forum and Korea Technology Finance Corporation (KOTEC) and sponsored by Hancom Group, will also be held for the first time this year. The commercialization potential and security of AI-based services developed by participating teams will be evaluated, with total prize money of 25 million won.
Starting with this year's event, Codegate will work to build an educational ecosystem to cultivate security talent for the AI era. It will select future talent to provide structured training opportunities and run a hands-on curriculum with incumbent white-hat hackers serving as mentors.
Hancom Group, the organizer of the competition, will support the introduction of a global fellowship to train the next generation of AI white-hat hackers. Selected talent will receive scholarships, practical training, and networking opportunities with overseas security communities. Recruitment for the first global fellowship cohort is scheduled for September this year.
Codegate Security Forum Chair Cho Hyun-suk said, "As AI joins the front line of finding vulnerabilities and building defensive walls, the security paradigm is being completely upended," and added, "Without a national defense system to stop highly advanced offensive AI, a leap to becoming an AI powerhouse is impossible. This competition will diagnose the current state of AI security and serve as a venue to present a clear roadmap for where Korea should go next."