Defcon Biohacking Village 2024

Dragoș Ionică – Senior Manager at Deloitte, and four other teammates from Secureworks, have shown their skills and technical expertise by winning the prestigious cybersecurity competition in the medical field at the 32nd edition of Defcon, held in Las Vegas. Their team secured first place at the Biohacking Village (BHV), a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition exclusively focused on the security of medical devices. The competition attracted around 60 teams from across the globe, including renowned teams composed of experts from the United States, France, Germany, and Israel.

The team whose captain was Dragos scored an impressive 10,447 points, with 2,000 of those points earned by identifying critical vulnerabilities in medical equipment from major manufacturers such as Boston Scientific, Illumina, and Siemens Healthineers.

In addition to these achievements, the team demonstrated remarkable skills in solving complex challenges involving forensics and reverse engineering on malware samples designed for insulin pumps and patient data encryption (ransomware). These accomplishments not only secured their victory, but also underscored the importance of securing medical infrastructure in an increasingly connected world.

Participants from diverse fields test the latest technologies, from medical devices to autonomous vehicles and aerospace systems. These "villages" are massive spaces filled with simulators and hardware, offering specialists the chance to test products for cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The competition itself had two key components: identifying vulnerabilities in medical devices and solving platform-based challenges. Despite a change in scoring rules this year, the winning team excelled, finding seven critical vulnerabilities within 40 minutes and securing over 10,400 points. Their first-place finish earned them the right to help organize next year's event and exclusive access to telemedicine equipment for further testing.

- said Dragoș Ionică Senior Manager at Deloitte.

Their international recognition was further solidified by an invitation extended to the captain of the Romanian team to join the BHV organizers for the next edition of the competition.

Deloitte will continue working on securing equipment focused on telemedicine, further confirming the value and impact of our experts to medical cybersecurity. This remarkable success strengthens Deloitte position on the global cybersecurity map and highlights the cutting-edge expertise that Deloitte specialists bring to the protection of critical hospital equipment, a vital need in today's digital age.