UniversidaddeCádiz

Pedro José Navas Pérez, a student on the Master’s Degree in Research in Systems and Computer Engineering at ESI, takes first place in the CTF held in Seville

Pedro José Navas Pérez, a student on the Official Master’s Degree in Research in Systems and Computer Engineering at the School of Engineering (ESI) of the University of Cádiz (UCA), has taken first place in the CTF (Capture The Flag) competition held as part of the tenth edition of the SecAdmin 2025 cybersecurity and hacking conference. The event, which took place in Seville, is regarded as one of the leading benchmarks in the sector in southern Spain.

SecAdmin brings together experts, professionals and specialised students every year to analyse the main current challenges in the field of information security. Within this framework, the technical CTF competition is one of the core activities of the conference, as it assesses participants’ skills in ethical hacking.

The competition consisted of a series of complex challenges designed to test abilities in areas such as cryptography, web exploitation and reverse engineering. Participants were required to breach protected security systems in order to locate the so-called “flags”, hidden codes that certify the successful completion of each challenge. After successfully overcoming all the tests, the University of Cádiz student was awarded the emblematic katana, the distinctive trophy presented by the conference to the winners, symbolising technical excellence in the fight against cyber threats.

This victory at SecAdmin 2025 reinforces Pedro José Navas’s profile as one of the emerging figures in the fields of cybersecurity and cyber defence. Previously, he was named winner of Talent4Cyber 2025, a hackathon organised by the Joint Cyber Command and the National Cybersecurity Institute, an achievement that proved decisive in his subsequent selection as a member of the Linux rapid response team of the Spanish Blue Team.

In this context, the ESI student took part in NATO’s Locked Shields 2025 exercise, considered the most complex cyber warfare simulation in the world, in which international teams test their defensive capabilities against large-scale cyberattacks.

Beyond the institutional sphere, Navas has maintained a strong and consistent track record in the university and professional competitive circuit. At national level, he has won the University of A Coruña CTF and the Hacker Weeks competition at the University of Málaga for two consecutive years, consolidating his position among the most solid profiles in the Spanish academic landscape.

His international achievements also include first prizes in global competitions such as the CWL CTF Event by CyberWarfareLabs and the Deadface CTF, events in which he has competed with the Flaggermeister team, of which he has been captain since its creation.

These achievements highlight the high level of specialisation and excellence of postgraduate students at the School of Engineering and help to position the University of Cádiz as a breeding ground for talent in the field of cybersecurity, a strategic sector with growing professional demand.