Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) delivered a standout performance by securing 1st and 2nd Runner-Up positions, as well as fourth to seventh places, with ChowFan and TungS4hur highlighting APU’s strong presence in the national cybersecurity arena.

Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia) successfully concluded its flagship national cybersecurity competition, the Curtin Malaysia CTF Hackathon 2025 v3.0, with Asia Pacific University of Technology & Innovation (APU) teams delivering a commanding performance that saw them dominate the podium.

Held virtually from Miri, Sarawak, from 6 to 7 December 2025, the gruelling 24-hour hackathon attracted more than 200 participants, making it the largest edition to date. 

Organised by Curtin Malaysia’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in collaboration with the Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) and supported by Sarawak Information Systems Sdn. Bhd. (SAINS), the competition brought together 75 teams from higher education institutions across Malaysia.

The event was officially inaugurated by Associate Professor Ts Dr Bridgid Chin Lai Fui, Associate Dean of Research and Development at the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia.

Participants were then thrust into an intense, round-the-clock series of challenges designed to simulate real-world cyber threats across multiple domains, including Digital Forensics, Reverse Engineering, Hardware Security, Cryptography, OSINT, and Web Exploitation.

After 24 relentless hours, Team Flag/Abuser from UniKL MIIT emerged as the national champion, securing the grand prize of RM2,500. 

However, it was APU that delivered the most striking showing of the competition, decisively claiming both 1st and 2nd Runner-Up positions, along with several other top placements.

APU’s ChowFan clinched 1st Runner-Up, earning RM1,500, while TungS4hur followed closely as 2nd Runner-Up, taking home RM1,000. 

ChowFan comprised Ruhan Aidan Amaradasa, Lee Kuang Weng, and Wong Wei Jie, while TungS4hur featured Ong Zi Xuan, Jerrell Su Ming Jie, and Tan Sin Hong.

The event concluded with a closing ceremony led by Dr Veeramani Shanmugam, Senior Lecturer at Curtin Malaysia, who reaffirmed the university’s commitment to nurturing cybersecurity talent through hands-on, industry-aligned initiatives.

Curtin Malaysia also extended its appreciation to all organisers, volunteers, and partners whose contributions were instrumental to the hackathon’s success.

Representing ChowFan, Lee Kuang Weng explained that the team had been actively competing under APU for over a year. 

Their journey began at Curtin CTF v2.0 in 2024, and since then, they had secured multiple podiums finishes while representing APU in competitions such as BlackBerry CCoE, UMCS CTF, SunCTF, and Curtin CTF, often under their original team name, C0UGH1NGB4BY.

“ChowFan, which literally means fried rice, was actually a pseudonym so other teams would stop targeting us,” he shared.

Kuang Weng added that Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions were essentially gamified cybersecurity scenarios, spanning categories such as web exploitation, cryptography, digital forensics, open-source intelligence, cloud vulnerabilities, binary exploitation, and reverse engineering.

“As a team, we had participated in over 50 competitions, joining online CTFs almost every other weekend. Our strength really lay in experience and teamwork; each of us specialised in different categories, which allowed us to work efficiently and support one another whenever we hit a roadblock,” he said.

He also reflected on how the competitive landscape had evolved over time. While earlier competitions rewarded broad technical knowledge, the emergence of agentic large language models and modern tooling had shifted the meta towards speed, adaptability, and innovation.

“We genuinely enjoyed the thrill of competing. Solving obscure challenges was exciting but watching the live leaderboard shift in real time was a rollercoaster. 

“We were in first place for most of the competition until the final ten minutes, and knowing exactly who our rivals were definitely kept us on edge,” he added.

Although the competition did not directly contribute academic credit, Kuang Weng noted that it strongly complemented their studies by helping them build industry-relevant skills, networks, and portfolios.

“In fact, we had just qualified for HackDay 2026 at ESIEE Paris, representing APU once again. 

“We planned to continue competing, as this was something we were truly passionate about, and we were currently seeking sponsorship to make the finals in Paris,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of TungS4hur, Ong Zi Xuan shared that CTF competitions had gradually become second nature to the team.

“It became more than just a competition. It turned into a hobby and a passion. In the real cyber world, time zones do not matter, and the ability to respond quickly, even late at night, can make all the difference. Most importantly, teamwork truly makes the dream work,” he said.

Zi Xuan described the hackathon as one of the most physically and mentally demanding events they had participated in, citing the requirement to complete technical write-ups at dawn and justify their solutions during an online interview later the same day.

APU’s strong presence continued beyond the podium, with B1ngChilling (Hong Rui Yi, Chai Cheng Xun and Toh Jia Yu), Balai Polis (Jeremy Phang Kah Chun, Tan Nick Kean and Teh Wei Ying), Chill Jazz (Leong Han Ming, Shunsuke Tan Hei and Wong Wan Yin), and Clàudia Enitan (Teh Yu Xuan and Lee Zhen Yong) securing fourth to seventh places, each earning RM250. 

All successful APU teams were active members of the APU’s Forensic and Cybersecurity Research Centre – Student Section (FSEC-SS), under the guidance of advisors Ms Nor Azlina Abd Rahman and Ms Noris Ismail, both from the School of Technology (SoT).