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“HKCERT Capture The Flag 2024” Concludes Successfully with Record Participation, Gathering Top Global Teams in Hong Kong, Nurturing Future Cyber Security Talent

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HONG KONG, Jan. 23, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) in collaboration with the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT), and Digital Policy Office of the HKSAR Government, successfully hosted the “HKCERT Capture the Flag Challenge 2024” (CTF Challenge) on 20-21 January. The event attracted over record-making 1,300 participants from renowned teams across the Chinese Mainland, other parts of Asia, Europe, and the United States, setting. Since 2020, HKCERT has organised the CTF Challenge for five consecutive years, expanding its scale annually and becoming one of the most influential cyber security events in Hong Kong.

Mr. Edmond LAI, Chief Digital Officer of HKPC said, “The CTF Challenge aims to provide an international platform for exchange, enhancing participants’ cyber security skills comprehensively and nurturing future cyber security talent for Hong Kong and the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. With the rise of emerging technologies such as AI and big data, cyber security has become a critical issue. These emerging technologies could potentially be used by hackers, making the cultivation of ‘ethical hackers’ increasingly important. We look forward to seeing more emerging cyber security stars shine on the CTF stage and become the backbone of the cyber security field, further solidifying the foundation for the city’s digital transformation.”

Mr. Daniel CHEUNG, JP, Deputy Commissioner (Digital Infrastructure), Digital Policy Office, presented the awards jointly with Mr. Lai to the winners and said, “The CTF Challenge not only recognises the participants’ remarkable achievements and talent in both offensive and defensive cyber security, but also provides a platform for collaboration, knowledge sharing and networking. The Digital Policy Office will continue to encourage the information technology sector to actively support cyber security talent development, with a view to addressing the increasingly complex cyber landscape, and collectively promoting Hong Kong’s development as an international innovation and technology hub.”

Elites Showdown to Advance Global Cyber Security Collaboration

This year, the CTF Challenge saw over 1,000 participants for the third consecutive year, with 149 overseas teams registering, including two guest teams from the Chinese Mainland and two teams known as the “United Nations Team,” competing on the same stage, further strengthening talent exchange and collaboration in cyber security. One international team is ranked among the world’s top 50, and another has claimed seven global CTF championships. The CTF Challenge has received industry acclaim for five consecutive years, with its rating on the internationally renowned CTF competition platform CTFTime steadily rising for four years, proving its increasing recognition and influence in the global CTF community.

Three local teams and one team from the Chinese Mainland won the finals, capturing gold in the secondary school, tertiary, open, and international categories. The “Best School Award” was won by Diocesan Boys’ School in Hong Kong. For the full list of winners and more information about the event and competition details, please visit the CTF Challenge 2024 website.

The international champion team, r4kapig, stated, “This competition provided us with valuable learning and practical opportunities, exposing us to many new knowledge areas and attack-defense techniques. It was our first time competing in Hong Kong, with members from Guangzhou, Shanghai, Nanjing, and Chengdu. The event adopted a hybrid model, offering an excellent exchange platform, allowing us to engage in in-depth technical exchanges and share experiences with Hong Kong and international players. In the future, we will consider pursuing careers in the cyber security industry and continue to delve into this field.”

Diverse Activities to Nurture Local Cyber Security Talent

Following the CTF Challenge, a seminar was held, inviting several cyber security experts to discuss hot topics such as how cyber defense exercises can complement traditional security testing, security risks and considerations in AI applications, and the latest trends in cyber threats. They also provided career advice for young people aspiring to enter the IT industry. The event was sponsored by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and OffSec, offering participants the chance to win online cyber security courses sponsored by OffSec, the course covers basic offensive and defensive techniques, networking, scripting, application and operating system security, and business-related skills.

Note: The CTF Challenge has four categories: secondary school, tertiary, open, and international. The top five teams in each category from the preliminary round held in November last year advanced to the finals, making a total of 20 elite teams, including 15 local secondary school, tertiary, and open teams, and five internationally renowned CTF teams from Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

About Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre

Managed by the Hong Kong Productivity Council, the Hong Kong Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (HKCERT) is the centre for coordination of computer security incident response for local enterprises and Internet Users. Its missions are to facilitate information dissemination, provide advice on preventive measures against security threats, and promote information security awareness. 

HKCERT collaborates with local bodies to collect and disseminate information, and coordinate response actions. HKCERT is also a member of the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) and the Asia Pacific Computer Emergency Response Team (APCERT). We exchange information with other CERTs and act as a point of contact for cross-border security incidents. 

For more information, please visit HKCERT’s website: www.hkcert.org

About Hong Kong Productivity Council

The Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) is a multi-disciplinary organisation established by statute in 1967, to promote productivity excellence through relentless drive of world-class advanced technologies and innovative service offerings to support Hong Kong enterprises. As a nationwide leader in innovative, market-driven research and development (R&D) internationally, specialising in leading technologies and all-rounded manufacturing services, HKPC promotes new industrialisation in Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area and facilitates the development of new productive forces, leveraging innovation and technology (I&T), as well as bolstering Hong Kong to be an international innovation and technology centre and a smart city. The Council offers comprehensive innovative solutions for Hong Kong industries and enterprises, enabling them to achieve resources and productivity utilisation, effectiveness and cost reduction, and enhance competitiveness in both local and overseas marketplace. The Council partners and collaborates with local industries and enterprises and world-class R&D institutes to develop applied technology solutions for value creation. It also benefits a variety of sectors through product innovation, technology transfer, and commercialisation, bringing enormous business opportunities ahead. HKPC’s world-class R&D achievements have been widely recognised over the years, winning an array of local and overseas accolades.

In addition, HKPC offers SMEs and startups immediate and timely assistance in coping with the ever-changing business environment, and strengthens talent nurturing and Hong Kong’s competitiveness with FutureSkills training for enterprises and academia to enhance digital capabilities and STEM competencies.

For more information, please visit HKPC’s website: www.hkpc.org/en.

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SOURCE Hong Kong Productivity Council

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DMALL Gains Momentum in Southeast Asia with AI-Driven Retail Platform

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SINGAPORE, May 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As retailers across Southeast Asia face rising operational complexity, shifting consumer expectations and margin pressure, demand is growing for integrated, real-time retail operating systems.

Dmall Inc. (02586.HK) is supporting this shift with a unified retail operating platform that connects core retail functions, improves execution efficiency and enhances visibility across stores, supply chains and customer touchpoints.

As one of China’s largest retail digital solutions providers by revenue and gross merchandise volume, Dmall serves nearly 600 retail clients across 11 countries and regions. Its platform has been shaped by large-scale deployments in complex retail environments, including long-standing work with Wumart Group, Metro, Lawson, 7-Eleven South China and SM Group in Southeast Asia.

Dmall’s recent collaboration with Cold Storage Singapore marks a milestone in supporting retail digital transformation across Southeast Asia. Completed within seven months, the project covered 87 stores across supermarket, hypermarket and express formats, consolidating multiple systems into a single platform across supply chain, merchandising and store operations.

“The transition was completed with minimal disruption to our operations,” said Mr. Lim Boon Chiong, Managing Director of Cold Storage Singapore. “We are seeing early improvements in product availability and replenishment, supported by better visibility across our supply chain and store network.”

The platform has also contributed to more consistent store execution and a more reliable customer experience. The first phase provides a foundation for the next stage of development, including AI-driven capabilities to further support product availability, freshness management and operational efficiency.

Dmall and Cold Storage Singapore plan to extend their cooperation to the fuel and convenience store format in June 2026, reflecting a deepening partnership and a shared commitment to creating greater operational value across retail formats.

“Southeast Asia is one of the world’s most dynamic retail markets, but also one of the most operationally complex,” said Mr. Zhongwei Ren, Partner and Chief Strategy Officer of Dmall. “By combining operational integration with AI-driven capabilities, Dmall aims to help retailers build more adaptive, scalable and efficient operations.”

About Dmall 

Founded in 2015, Dmall (02586.HK) is committed to advancing retail through technology. As one of Asia’s leading providers of digital retail solutions, Dmall delivers integrated, AI-driven innovations that help retailers improve efficiency, optimize decisions and create greater value.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.com/apac/news-releases/dmall-gains-momentum-in-southeast-asia-with-ai-driven-retail-platform-302761046.html

SOURCE Dmall Inc.

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Germany’s PDF/UA Mandate Raises the Bar for HTML to PDF C# Workflows

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Enterprise .NET teams generating PDFs at scale face new compliance pressure. Most aren’t ready.

CHICAGO, May 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — The German government’s Deutschland Stack has standardized on PDF/UA as the required format for final-form digital documents. For .NET teams building HTML to PDF C# workflows, the mandate forces a question many have deferred: does the library you depend on actually produce compliant output, or just output that looks right?

Iron Software’s IronPDF, a commercial .NET library used in regulated industries across logistics, healthcare, and finance, generates PDF/UA-1 compliant documents directly from HTML in C#. That’s the same conformance level the Deutschland Stack now requires.

“Accessibility compliance has shifted from important to mandatory,” said Cameron Rimington, CEO of Iron Software. “Government rules like this set a floor that enterprise teams are expected to meet, not aspire to. The question is whether their tooling can clear that bar without bolt-on remediation.”

From recommendation to requirement

PDF/UA (ISO 14289) defines what makes a PDF universally accessible: correct tag structure, logical reading order, and metadata that lets assistive technologies parse the document reliably. The standard has existed since 2012, but adoption has been patchy.

Germany’s decision to embed PDF/UA into its national digital stack moves it from best practice to enforceable baseline. Combined with the European Accessibility Act, which extends similar requirements to digital products serving EU markets, the compliance window for document-heavy .NET applications is closing fast.

Most HTML to PDF C# workflows aren’t compliant yet

Despite the regulatory pressure, PDF/UA compliance is still the exception across enterprise .NET. Many teams generating PDFs at volume, particularly those running HTML to PDF C# pipelines, are using libraries that produce visually correct files but miss the structural and metadata requirements accessibility standards actually demand.

As mandates harden, that gap is harder to defer.

“Germany just standardized on PDF/UA. In our experience, most development teams aren’t compliant yet, and they know it,” said Rimington. “That gap is why they’re coming to us.”

What this means for .NET developers

Teams generating PDFs in .NET, for government portals, financial statements, healthcare records, or legal filings, are increasingly being asked to prove their output meets accessibility standards, not just that it renders.

IronPDF gives developers a direct path from HTML to PDF in C# with two methods that cover the common cases:

RenderHtmlAsPdfUa generates PDF/UA-1 compliant documents directly from HTMLSaveAsPdfUa converts existing PDFs to PDF/UA-1

When source HTML is semantic and well-structured, compliant output can be produced in a single call with no remediation step required. For less structured input, additional tagging may be needed to reach full compliance.

The library also supports PDF/A (conformance levels 1 through 3, both b and a) and PDF versions 1.2 through 1.7, covering archival and compliance requirements common in public sector and enterprise deployments.

In production: serving Germany’s regulated industries

The compliance pressure IronPDF is built for is already shaping decisions on the ground. ThreeB IT, a software engineering firm based in Ibbenbüren, has standardized on IronPDF for document generation across logistics and healthcare platforms, including systems serving Kuehne + Nagel and nationwide COVID-19 testing infrastructure.

Operating under strict GDPR and healthcare data rules made the library choice a compliance decision as much as a technical one.

“Because Iron Software doesn’t store any data, GDPR compliance is simple. That’s critical for every project we build,” said Thimo Buchheister, CEO of ThreeB IT.

Deployment speed mattered just as much.

“IronPDF made it possible to build a nationwide COVID testing system in two weeks. The key part was ready within hours,” said Buchheister.

The firm now treats Iron Software libraries as a default in its stack.

“We’ll integrate at least one Iron Software product in every future project. It’s become part of our standard stack,” Buchheister added.

View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/germanys-pdfua-mandate-raises-the-bar-for-html-to-pdf-c-workflows-302761055.html

SOURCE Iron Software

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Cregis Showcases at Money20/20 Asia 2026, Exploring a New Paradigm for Financial Infrastructure Powered by Stablecoins and On-Chain Payments

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HONG KONG, DUBAI, UAE and SINGAPORE, May 4, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — From April 21 to 23, 2026, at Money20/20 Asia 2026—one of the most influential fintech events in the Asia-Pacific region—Cregis participated as an exhibitor at Booth 6001. The conference brought together industry leaders to discuss key themes such as payment innovation, cross-border settlement, digital assets, and regulatory developments. During the event, Cregis presented its comprehensive digital asset infrastructure solutions tailored for enterprises and financial institutions, while engaging in in-depth conversations with participants from banks, payment providers, fintech companies, and Web3 organizations.

Advancing Payment Infrastructure

Throughout the event, the Cregis team highlighted its end-to-end capabilities in on-chain payments and digital asset management, with a focus on enterprise payment and treasury needs. As stablecoins and blockchain technologies increasingly move into real-world applications, enterprise priorities are shifting from simply supporting crypto assets to enabling efficient, secure, and controllable fund flows.

Cregis offers a unified infrastructure that supports multi-chain and multi-asset management, adaptable to a wide range of use cases including cross-border trade settlement, merchant payments, and corporate treasury operations. By ensuring both security and compliance, the platform enables more efficient global fund movement and greater transparency in settlement processes.

Richard, Co-Founder of Cregis, commented during the event: “Today, the key challenge for enterprises is no longer whether to enter the digital asset space, but how to build a fund management system that balances efficiency, security, and compliance. Through our infrastructure, we aim to help businesses operate more effectively in an increasingly complex global payments landscape.”

A New Cross-Border Payment Paradigm Driven by Stablecoins

Stablecoins and on-chain payments emerged as central topics at this year’s conference. As more financial institutions and payment providers explore the use of digital assets in cross-border settlement, stablecoins are becoming a critical bridge between traditional finance and the crypto economy.

During the event, Cregis engaged with various industry partners to discuss practical applications of stablecoins in cross-border trade, enterprise settlement, and treasury management. Compared to traditional cross-border payment rails, stablecoin-based settlement offers clear advantages in efficiency, cost, and transparency. At the same time, it raises higher requirements for underlying infrastructure, particularly in areas such as secure custody, fund monitoring, and regulatory compliance.

Engaging Industry Leaders: Exploring the Future Evolution of Finance in Asia

Beyond its presence on the exhibition floor, Cregis co-hosted a side event titled The Reserved Table: Redefining Asia’s Future of Settlements alongside WIDTH, StraitsX, and PlatON. The event brought together key players across payments, stablecoins, and cross-border settlement to explore the future trajectory of financial infrastructure in Asia.

At the event, Tannie, Head of Southeast Asia at Cregis, joined a panel discussion themed “A New Standard of Value: Stablecoins, Settlement & the New Money Stack”, where he shared insights from frontline enterprise use cases.

Tannie noted that the market still tends to view stablecoins primarily as a “product”, such as a yield-generating tool or trading instrument. However, in real-world business scenarios, stablecoins are increasingly evolving into foundational infrastructure. For exchanges, payment providers, and cross-border enterprises, the focus is no longer on yield, but on critical operational questions: how to enable real-time global settlement, how to manage liquidity across regions, and how to reduce reliance on traditional banking systems.

Looking ahead, Tannie emphasized that the deeper significance of stablecoins lies in their ability to fundamentally reshape how enterprises manage capital. Within an infrastructure-driven stablecoin framework, businesses can achieve:

Policy-based approval and signing mechanisms for fund movementsReal-time on-chain reconciliation and automated settlementA unified liquidity view across multiple chains and wallets24/7 uninterrupted treasury operations

This shift signals that stablecoins are not merely replacing traditional payment rails—they are driving enterprises to transition from conventional financial workflows toward a more programmable, automated “next-generation operating system for capital.”

From Payment Capabilities to Global Financial Connectivity

As stablecoins, on-chain payments, and enterprise-grade asset management systems continue to mature, a more efficient, transparent, and globally connected financial network is taking shape.

Richard noted: “In the coming years, as the convergence between traditional finance and Web3 accelerates, demand for robust digital asset infrastructure will continue to grow. Cregis aims to be a key enabler in this transition, providing enterprises with secure, scalable, and reliable foundational capabilities.”

Looking ahead, Cregis will continue to enhance its product offerings across custody, payments, and asset management. By focusing on real-world business needs, the company is committed to building a more comprehensive digital asset infrastructure, empowering global enterprises to improve efficiency, manage risks, and achieve sustainable growth in the next generation of financial systems.

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SOURCE Cregis

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