SherpaCTF 2025 - Recap

SherpaSec hosted SherpaCTF 2025, an innovative Battle Royale-style Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, held in conjunction with the Parallel Pulse conference in Malaysia. Breaking away from traditional CTF formats, this 6-hour intensive event challenged participants with a unique elimination-based competition structure, combining digital cybersecurity challenges with physical skill tests. The event aimed to push boundaries in competitive cybersecurity formats while fostering community engagement and identifying top talent in Malaysia’s cybersecurity ecosystem.

We want to express our heartfelt thanks to every participant and supporter who made this event possible. Trying out a new CTF concept was a big step for us, and we were initially worried about how participants would react to it. But the smiles on your faces gave us our answer, and we truly appreciate every moment of excitement and enjoyment it brought to all of you! Plus, we hope you had fun with our non-CTF side quests too.

Special thanks to Parallel Pulse for having us at their excellent conference, and div0, HackingGroup, Signalens, Casaba, Altered Security and Verdesec for their incredible support throughout the journey. This competition wouldn’t have been possible without their help.

Quick Statistics

100%

show rate

RM 21.8K

Prize Pool

6 Hours

Battle Royale Duration

1st

Malaysian Battle Royale CTF with Physical Challenges

Our Sponsors

Platinum Sponsors

Gold Sponsors

Bronze Sponsors

Benefit-in-Kind

Player Testimonies

“

SherpaCTF is about drawing out the best from its participants, and this one was no exception! It was truly a breath of fresh air from the CTF meta that is AI-assisted solutions; it was a true competition of skills! From lock picking, to the dungeon RTA, and the main highlight being the series of offline challenges, not to mention the Parallel Pulse conference, at no point would you catch yourself idling!

“

The most fun individual CTF I've had the opportunity to join in 2025, an interesting concept of a battle royale style elimination which made the competition more thrilling. In addition to this, the absence of AI and the internet made the competition all the more difficult but fun nonetheless. 10/10 W CTF

“

A very fun to play CTF with an unique twist of it being fully offline. No internet nor AI? skill issue time it is it seems. Had a good time enjoying both the main CTF event and also the side quests that happened after getting eliminated, and honestly, no one left feeling bored.

“

SherpaCTF 2025 was a very interesting CTF because it had no internet and included physical challenges like lockpicking. The battle royale format made every round stressful and fun, and there was always something to do even after getting eliminated.

CTF Winners

ONG ZI XUAN

2nd Place

TAN SIN CHEE

1st Place

LEONG HAN MING

3rd Place

RUHAN AIDAN AMARADASA

4th Place

CHAI CHENG XUN

5th Place

HONG RUI YI

6th Place

PREM ISHWAR A/L SARAVANAN

7th Place

JEREMY PHANG KAH CHUN

8th Place

Side Quest Winners

Eliminated participants had the opportunity to compete in exciting physical challenges to win additional prizes!

Speed Lockpicking Challenge

WONG WAN YIN

Completed in an incredible 30 seconds!

Game Speedrun Challenge

LEE ZHEN YONG

Conquered every obstacle with lightning speed!