Secure Coding
Through engaging hacking challenges and competitions, CTFs offer an excellent opportunity to test and enhance your security and problem-solving skills
13 Nov 2023 • , 3 min. read
Cybersecurity is not only an ever-evolving and increasingly important concern in our digital age, but it can also be a lot of fun. Capture The Flag competitions, also known as CTFs, have a lot to do with that.
Through hacking challenges of various difficulty levels and modes, these contests are designed to assess a wide range of skills and knowledge related to cybersecurity as well as, more broadly, problem-solving skills, teamwork and creativity. The ultimate goal is to capture a “flag”, such as a snippet of code, that confirms the successful resolution of a challenge.
These games can be played individually or in teams, and the number of points you earn for each challenge will depend on its complexity, the time taken to solve it, and the number of people in the team.
The main types of challenges include: reverse engineering, cryptography, forensic analysis, web security, open-source intelligence (OSINT) and binary exploitation. The modes can be jeopardy, war games (attack and defense) or mixed.
Here are our top 5 recommendations for you to further hone your skills while enjoying CTFs:
CryptoHack
Describing itself as a “a fun, free platform for learning modern cryptography”, Crypto Hack offers various interactive challenges related to this exciting field. It also encourages continuous progress through achievement awards and competition levels. The challenges vary from downloading vulnerable source code to decryption, making web requests to extract confidential data, and performing man-in-the-middle attacks. While most challenges require you to code up a solution, they also provide snippets of Python source code that participants can tailor to their needs.
Hack The Box
Hack The Box allows individuals, businesses, government institutions and universities alike to sharpen their offensive and defensive security skills. It also has a CTF exercise section that includes jeopardy-type challenges (in web security, cryptography, reverse engineering and forensics). Also available are full-pwn machines with various difficulties, attack paths, and operating systems, along with Active Directory labs simulating real business environments with the latest attack techniques. With over 500 organized CTFs, almost 60,000 participating teams, and more than 200,000 flags successfully captured, Hack The Box is a popular choice for security folks.
RingZer0 Team Online CTF
RingZer0 hosts 400-plus CTF exercises of varying difficulty and subjects, ranging from steganography and cryptography to reverse engineering and programming. It actively encourages community participation and invites participants to submit written solutions for each challenge they complete. Once approved, these solutions can be exchanged for hints. The primary goal is to motivate people to share their problem-solving approaches and demonstrate the various ways to tackle the same challenge.
TryHackMe
TryHackMe offers a comprehensive training platform with content suitable for all skill levels, from beginners to seasoned hackers. The platform provides well-structured learning paths that reinforce knowledge in information security through various tasks and challenges designed to achieve specific objectives. With an active community of students and cybersecurity professionals, TryHackMe fosters knowledge-sharing, enriching the learning experience for all participants.
Desafío ESET (ESET challenge)
If you speak Spanish, head over to the Spanish version of WeLiveSecurity that features a section called Desafíos ESET with more than 40 challenges specially crafted by ESET’s lab in Latin America. These exercises run the gamut and include detecting data exfiltration from a company, reverse engineering without analyzing code, and analyzing samples to identify the propagation of malware within an organization. Each challenge includes community-contributed comments, opinions, and questions that further enhance the training and learning experience.
There you have it. Obviously these are just some of the many websites hosting competitions that provide valuable experience for security enthusiasts and professionals alike and ultimately boost their career prospects in the field. So keep exploring and joining these fun-filled exercises and stay updated on the exciting CTF challenges in the dynamic field that is security. Happy hacking!
FURTHER READING: Cracked it! Highlights from KringleCon 5: Golden Rings