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ROK Cyber Operations Command

The Cyber Operations Command won an international cybersecurity competition held in Oldebroek, the Netherlands, on Oct. 30 (local time), achieving its fifth consecutive victory.

The Ministry of National Defense announced on Nov. 2 that the Cyber Operations Command had won first place at the award ceremony for the international cybersecurity competition CyberNet 2026.

CyberNet is an annual competition hosted by the Netherlands Defence Cyber Command (DCC) since 2018. Major NATO member states and partner countries participate in the event. This year's exercise took place from Oct. 26 to 29 (local time), with nine countries, including South Korea, Germany, France and Japan, conducting real-time cyberattack and defense operations.

The South Korean military has won the competition for five consecutive years since its first victory in 2022.

"To participate in this year's exercise, our military selected nine active-duty service members and civilian military employees from the Cyber Operations Command, who shared their knowledge and experience to develop strategies," a Ministry of National Defense official said.

"They dedicated themselves to preparing for the competition, including honing their AI-based cyberattack and defense capabilities to adapt to the changing cyber battlefield environment," the official explained.

"Through our fifth consecutive victory, we were once again able to demonstrate our military's outstanding cyber operations capabilities to the world," a Cyber Operations Command official said.

"We will not rest on our achievements and will continue to devote ourselves fully to strengthening our mission capabilities."

Going forward, the Cyber Operations Command plans to strengthen domestic and international exchanges and cooperation by hosting White Hat 2026, a defense cybersecurity competition and conference involving the private sector, government and military, and pursuing the South Korea-U.S. Cyber Alliance exercise, with the aim of further developing its cyber operations capabilities.

                                                                                                             Lee Han-sol