capture the flag

Capture the Flag (CTF) in computer security is an exercise in which participants attempt to find text strings, called "flags", which are secretly hidden in purposefully-vulnerable programs or websites. They can be used for both competitive or educational purposes. In two main variations of CTFs, participants either steal flags from other participants (attack/defense-style CTFs) or from organizers (jeopardy-style challenges). A combination of those two styles would be called mixed. Competitions can include hiding flags in hardware devices, they can be both online or in-person, and can be advanced or entry-level. The game is inspired by the traditional outdoor sport of the same name. Overview Capture the Flag (CTF) is a cybersecurity competition that is used test and develop computer security skills. It was first developed in 1996 at DEF CON, the largest cybersecurity conference in the United States hosted annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The conference hosts a weekend of cybersecurity competitions, including their flagship CTF. Two popular CTF formats are jeopardy and attack-defense. Both formats test participant’s knowledge in cybersecurity, but differ in objective. In the Jeopardy format, participating teams must complete as many challenges of varying point values from a various categories such as cryptography, web exploitation, and reverse engineering. In the attack-defense format, competing teams must defend their vulnerable computer systems while attacking their opponent's systems. Educational applications CTFs have been shown to be an effective way to improve cybersecurity education through gamification. There are many examples of CTFs designed to teach cybersecurity skills to a wide variety of audiences, including PicoCTF, organized by the Carnegie Mellon CyLab, which is oriented towards high school students, and Arizona State University supported pwn.college. Beyond educational CTF events and resources, CTFs has been shown to be a highly effective way to instill cybersecurity concepts in the classroom. CTFs have been included in undergraduate computer science classes such as Introduction to Security at the University of Southern California. CTFs are also popular in military academies. They are often included as part of the curriculum for cybersecurity courses, with the NSA organized Cyber Exercise culminating in a CTF competition between the US service academies and military colleges.