In 2025, we launched our first-ever CTF Team Sponsorship Program to recognize and support standout teams in the global Capture The Flag (CTF) community. Our goal is to empower skilled competitors who embody the spirit of curiosity, collaboration, and technical excellence — values that have long defined the reverse engineering community.
Through this program, Hex-Rays provides three top tier teams and one rising star team with IDA Pro licenses, travel support for in-person competitions, and opportunities to share their expertise through research, write-ups, and challenge creation.
After reviewing dozens of outstanding applications from around the world, we’re proud to introduce the inaugural class of Hex-Rays Sponsored Teams.
CTFtime: https://ctftime.org/team/58979
Formed in 2018 through the merger of Eur3kA and FlappyPig, r3kapig has become one of the most dominant and respected teams in the global CTF arena. With eight consecutive DEF CON Finals appearances and (at the time of this post) a #1 worldwide ranking, the team represents the pinnacle of technical skill and coordination.
r3kapig has a strong history of sharing detailed write-ups and research with the community, building an impressive archive of challenges and technical insights over the years.
We’re excited to support r3kapig’s continued pursuit of excellence as they compete around the world in 2025.
CTFtime: https://ctftime.org/team/114856
Founded in 2020, Kalmarunionen unites top players across Denmark, Sweden, and Norway with the goal of building a strong Northern European CTF community. In just five years, they’ve grown from rank #66 to a consistent top-three global standing, finishing #1 in 2024 and maintaining #2 in 2025 (at the time of this post).
Beyond their competition success, the team also organizes KalmarCTF, a well respected event, known for its original, high-quality challenges. They actively mentor new players, run workshops, and collaborate with universities and industry partners to develop the next generation of reverse engineers. Check out their website for the latest and greatest.
We’re proud to continue supporting Kalmarunionen’s outstanding contributions to the technical and educational side of the CTF community.
CTFtime: https://ctftime.org/team/33893
justCatTheFish is Poland’s premier cybersecurity competition team and a consistent top performer globally. Formed from the merger of two university-based teams from AGH UST and UWr, they’ve quickly become a fixture among the world’s best — placing 4th overall on CTFtime in 2023.
In addition to their competitive success, the team organizes justCTF, an annual international competition recognized for its creative and technically demanding challenges. The event attracts some of the top CTF teams worldwide and exemplifies their commitment to advancing the community’s technical excellence.
justCatTheFish’s members are known for their strong presence in the open-source and research space, regularly contributing reverse engineering and exploitation write-ups that are widely used as learning resources by other teams and researchers. You can explore their collection of work on GitHub.
Their combination of technical leadership, high-quality content, and community engagement made them a natural choice for inclusion in the inaugural Hex-Rays sponsorship program.
CTFtime: https://ctftime.org/team/28797
A rising star in the international scene, PwnSec was founded in 2022 at Amman, Jordan and has rapidly climbed the ranks from #206 in 2023 to #38 globally in 2025 (at the time of this post)! With more than 40 competitions per year, PwnSec has built a reputation for consistency, technical depth, and teamwork. Today, PwnSec is proud of its diverse, international fabric with over 50 team members across 14+ nationalities.
The team’s members are active contributors to the broader security community, publishing research and write-ups across multiple platforms and even organizing their own CTF event, PwnSec CTF. Their culture of mentorship and continuous learning makes them a perfect fit for Hex-Rays’ mission to support skill development and collaboration in reverse engineering.
Each sponsored team receives:
In return, teams share their insights and creativity with the broader community by publishing content showcasing IDA, creating new CTF challenges for the community and more.
We’re inspired by the dedication, skill, and community focus of all four teams and we can’t wait to see what they achieve in the coming sponsorship year!
Follow their journeys on CTFtime and across social media, and stay tuned for updates on their progress throughout the 2025-2026 season.