Understanding Capture the Flag in Cybersecurity Competitions

Capture the Flag competitions enhance cybersecurity skills through practical challenges and teamwork.

### Understanding Capture the Flag (CTF) in Cybersecurity: Episode 1 Overview
* 🎮 Capture the Flag, or CTF, is a competitive event in cybersecurity that has been around since the **early 90s**, gaining popularity as **technology has evolved**.
* 🛡 The series consists of four episodes, starting with the **basics of CTF**, followed by discussions on the **skills needed for participation**, where to **learn these skills**, and finally, where to **engage in CTF competitions**.
* 💡 Episode 1 focuses on defining what **CTF is**, while Episode 2 will outline the **skills required to compete effectively** in these events.
* 🔍 CTF competitions can be categorized into two main types: **attack-defense CTFs**, where teams take on the roles of **attackers (red team)** and **defenders (blue team)**, and **jeopardy-style CTFs**, which resemble the popular game show format.
* 🧠 In attack-defense CTFs, participants learn to **think like both attackers and defenders**, gaining valuable insights into **cybersecurity strategies**.
* 🌐 Jeopardy-style CTFs allow for multiple teams to compete by answering questions across various topics, including **programming and cryptography**, making them **accessible to a wider audience**.
* 📅 For those interested in honing their skills, the series encourages **subscribing for notifications on upcoming episodes**, which will delve deeper into the world of **CTF and cybersecurity**.
* 🔗 The host, Gran Collins, emphasizes the importance of both **theoretical knowledge** and **hands-on experience** in developing cybersecurity skills through CTF participation.

capsule flag, also known and abbreviated as CTF, is a competition between either professionals or students looking to enhance their skills in cybersecurity. These serve as a style of competition which probes learning experience, hands-on experience, training with different tools, and sharpening of skills. When first starting out with the whole idea behind capture flag, it can seem like a daunting learning experience, maybe too complex for someone like you who's starting out, or maybe an intermediate like me. You've maybe been told to participate in these events to sharpen your skills, or display your skills to specific employers, or to have this as a portfolio builder. Whatever the reason may be, today in this four-episode series, we will be addressing the whole idea behind capture the flag in cybersecurity. More students [Music] hello everyone, my name's Gran Collins. I am an aspiring cybersecurity professional, an undergraduate student completing an undergraduate cybersecurity program, and I like to call myself a little bit, maybe just a little bit, of an IT nerd. Today, we'll be addressing capture the flag through a

series of four. Before we even get started with episode 1, I will be addressing the outlining of all four episodes, starting with number 1, which is this episode, talking about what is Capture the Flag. That's the main question. Number 2, the question being asked is what kind of skills are required for competing in Capture the Flag. Episode 3, the question is where do I learn these particular skills if I'm somebody who doesn't have a particular skill set and one of the skills that I have mentioned in episode 2. And number 4 is where do you participate once you have these skills down and you continue to learn. Where do you participate with CTF competitions, both online and offline? Sure, hit subscribe and make sure to hit that notification bell for this 4-episode series. If you're watching this right now as of the time of uploading, if all four episodes have already been released, I ask you to also hit the subscribe button and the notification bell just because more episodes in series like these will be coming in the

future of course, so you don't never want to miss a series or an episode. Now that we have a summary, let's go ahead and dive in episode 1 with the question being, What is capture the flag? Capture the flag, I'm gonna call it CTF for the rest of these series, just because to abbreviate, to get those acronyms held down. Okay, let's keep going though. So, capture the flag events have been around a lot longer than I have been born, which really says something about capture the flag itself and really about my credibility as a person and as a professional or as a cybersecurity aspiring professional. You have to remember that I'm an aspiring cybersecurity professional. In all seriousness, capture a flag has been around since the early 90s, being these kinds of you and aren't particularly new. In fact, the early 90s was when this thing started, and they've only gained more popularity as time and technologies has continued to exponentially grow. CTF is it an event. You know what, I take that back. I will be

playing capture the flag. I will do. I will change simultaneously. I'm sorry. I didn't make it my mind. Okay, sorry. In all seriousness, CTF is, whether you want to call it an event or game, is usually hosted by either conferences or local conferences like b-sides, Petri flag events. I'm gonna call them competitions. Very difficulty or no, as depends on the professional and the level of advancement where the student or the professional is at. There are two types of CTF. One is called the attack-defence CTF. The other is a jeopardy style game CTF. As I researched this topic and gotten to know what the industry looks like, I would say that the attack-defence CTF are usually a little bit more popular than a jeopardy style of CTS. Well, we're gonna go ahead and break down both of them, starting with the attack-defence CTF. So, as the name suggests from attack-defence CTF, there's attackers and defenders in this type of game. The attackers are known as the red team and the defenders.

are known as the blue team. The flag that they talk about in most cases is either a hidden text file, an image file, or some sort of folder hidden and embedded into our system. CTFs that are hosted in events and event settings, conferences, security conferences, you usually have the option to either be fully red team, fully blue team, or participate in both. That's kind of a nice thing about in-person conferences that they have. It's great to get experience with both the red team and the blue team when you are participating in attack-defense CTF. When you do participate in either side, you're learning either about how the attacker thinks or how the defender thinks. And I think that adding both processes as one, like understanding where attackers and defenders think, is really important. So it's something that I really emphasize if you are gonna do these attack-defense CTF, do both sides eventually. More information on the red team and on the blue team, I recommend that you go over to Colin Kelly's channel, link in the

description below. He is broken down with a red team and the blue team. Do what tools they use, what skills they have. I highly recommend you to subscribe to his channel as he is a cybersecurity student as well. Links in the description below. Do you see how I did there? Boom, then okay. There's a cringefest at the cringefest. In addition to the Red Team Blue Team CTF, there's also what is called the Red Team CTF. And it's basically where the host of a conference sets up a CTF and everyone is the attacker. There's no defenders. These types of challenges I've broken up as I've researched are broken up either into programming, cryptography, exploitation, or reverse engineering. And in fact, I would say reverse engineering applies to even all three of the above again. The skills again we will outline those in episode 2. The skills and the challenges presented, right? So we've learned what an attack defense CTF or a Blue Team Red Team CTF is, but what about

the Jeopardy style game. Jeopardy style CTFs are similarly very similar to the real Jeopardy TV show. Basically, you can have an unlimited amount of people. You don't just have two teams; you can have more than two teams come together, and they just answer points pertaining to particular answers and questions, of course. It's just like the Jeopardy game. These topics range from exploitation, steganography. I did not say that right. Okay, I'm gonna move on. Cryptography, programming questions, things of that nature of vulnerabilities. It's going to be covered in an array of topics. And again, these job style games are not limited to two teams. Attack defense and jeopardy style CTFs are not just mutually exclusive, meaning you can have both within the same. You can have a jeopardy style game where one question requires you to be the red team and participate and go find a file in a system. So they're not mutually exclusive. You can force your do both. Alright, so we learn what a CTF is, capture the flag. We've learned what the

red team, the blue team, or else you want to call it TAC defense. You've learned what jeopardy-style CTFs are. In the next episode, episode 2, we will talk about the skills required to participate in a CTF and be actually competitive and successful. So stay tuned to episode 2.

What is Capture the Flag in Cybersecurity? | Capture the Flag Series

Grant Collins

Understanding Capture the Flag (CTF) in Cybersecurity

Capture the Flag (CTF) is a competition aimed at enhancing cybersecurity skills for professionals and students.

These events provide hands-on experience, training with different tools, and skill sharpening.

The series will explore the concept of CTF in cybersecurity and its benefits for skill development and portfolio building.

Understanding Capture the Flag (CTF) Events

Capture the flag (CTF) events have been around since the early 90s and have gained popularity with the growth of technology.

The speaker identifies as an aspiring cybersecurity professional and emphasizes the credibility of CTFs in the field.

CTFs are designed as competitive events, focusing on cybersecurity challenges and skills development.

Understanding Capture the Flag (CTF) Competitions

CTF competitions are hosted by conferences and vary in difficulty based on participants' skill levels.

There are two main types of CTFs: attack-defense and jeopardy style.

Attack-defense CTFs involve red team attackers and defenders, while jeopardy style CTFs allow for multiple teams to answer questions for points, covering a range of topics like exploitation and cryptography.

Understanding Red Team and Blue Team in Cybersecurity

The Red Team CTF focuses on attackers, with challenges in programming, cryptography, exploitation, and reverse engineering.

The Blue Team's role involves defending against attacks, often seeking hidden files or folders as flags.

In-person conferences offer the opportunity to participate in both teams, providing valuable experience in understanding the perspectives of both attackers and defenders.

Overview of the Capture the Flag (CTF) Series

The series consists of four episodes focused on Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions.

Episode 1 covers the basics of CTFs, while Episode 2 discusses the skills needed to compete successfully.

The subsequent episodes will address where to learn these skills and how to participate in CTF competitions, both online and offline.