Capture the Flag: Event with Debricked at Lund University

Since it’s held during one of the first days of the semester, it’s also a great opportunity to bond meet new people. Let’s have a look at what a CTF with Debricked might look like!

What is a CTF?

The whole essence of a Capture the Flag competition is problem solving. The concept has existed as a physical competition since way back, but has later snuck its way into cybersecurity. Participants are presented a set of problems. It might entail hacking, reverse engineering, physical problems such as lockpicking or anything else related to security. The flag is hidden, and revealed only when the contestants find the correct solution.

This particular CTF was done in jeopardy style, where the students split up in teams and chose which assignments to take on in which order. Each problem has a different difficulty level, which sets the number of points that the contestants receive after completing them. Some are more difficult than others and therefore take longer to complete, but in return give more points. It’s easy – the team with the highest score wins! 

Now, let’s meet the brains behind this CTF: Martin, Jonathan and Linus!

Martin, Linus and Jonathan are the brains behind Debricked’s Security team, and therefore the ones to put together CTF:s. With a common background in computer security and cryptography they always manage to come up with problems that make everyone scratch their heads.

What is the best thing about doing a CTF?

Linus: For me it’s two things: I love to see people who are completely new to the university and security, but still do such a good job with the assignments. Some might have done similar things at home on their own, and some are completely new. It’s just so great to see new talent. Also, coming up with the assignments is a lot of fun… 🙂 

Martin: I really enjoy seeing how the students go about solving the problems. They all have a very different approach, so it’s very interesting to see it from the outside.  

Capturing the flags

The competition went on for three whole hours, and seeing the students rush to gain points during the very last hour was quite impressive. The one team that managed to get the highest score was “Chilli Peppers”, a group of exchange students with different backgrounds and skills. They agreed to give us a beautiful group photo and answer a few questions.

What did you guys think of the CTF?

It was a lot of fun! Actually, a lot more than we thought. We weren’t super serious when entering, but as we completed more and more challenges we got more competitive. It was very nice that the whole team got so involved. 

Which assignment was the hardest?

The ones we didn’t solve, haha. One that was particularly difficult was the one called “God does not play dice”, where we had to figure out how to control the random number generator of a microcontroller. Unfortunately we did not have the time to complete that one.  

Generating Random Numbers

The assignment deemed as the most difficult one was indeed not easy, Jonathan agrees. “It might sound simple, but it’s actually quite hard. The problem is that all computers are deterministic, which means that we can predict what they will do next. The challenge here is to generate something which cannot be predicted using a computer that can.”

After congratulating the winning team the CTF was over, and it was time for the Debricked team to pack up and leave Lund university. We can barely wait for next year!

Did you know that Debricked offers Capture the Flag-competitions as an event for for companies? We tailor the assignments to fit the skill level of the participants, and it’s perfect as a team building event, a kick off or as a way to raise security awareness within your organization. Reach out to us!