Japan-based cybersecurity team BunkyoWesterns emerged as the champion of Kaspersky’s Security Analyst Summit (SAS) Capture the Flag (CTF) 2026 attack-defense finals, defeating 13 finalist teams in a 24-hour cybersecurity competition.
The team secured the $10,000 first-place prize after competing against cybersecurity specialists from Europe, the Middle East, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and North America. PwnSec from the Middle East placed second, winning $5,000, while Russia’s CUT team took third place and received $3,000.
The competition tested participants’ ability to defend their own servers while identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in rival teams’ systems. Scores factored in both successful attacks and server uptime, challenging teams to maintain service availability while responding to active cyberattacks.
One notable challenge featured an isolated network without internet access or AI agents, requiring participants to identify and analyze vulnerabilities manually. The exercise highlighted the continuing importance of human expertise and critical thinking in cybersecurity, despite the growing use of artificial intelligence in security research.
According to Kaspersky, the competition attracted more than 2,800 teams across its online qualifiers and Kaspersky{CTF} tournaments, with 14 teams advancing to the finals.
Leonid Bezvershenko, senior security researcher at Kaspersky’s Global Research and Analysis Team (GReAT), emphasized that while AI tools can assist security researchers, hands-on experience and human judgment remain essential in identifying and addressing complex vulnerabilities.
The SAS CTF 2026 finals were sponsored by Kaspersky Academy and held during the 18th annual Security Analyst Summit in Bali, Indonesia, from October 20 to 23, 2026.
