Secure coding
Through exciting hacking challenges and competitions, CTFs provide a great opportunity to test and improve your security and problem-solving skills.
November 13, 2023
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3 minutes. 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. The Capture The Flag competitions, also known as CTF, have a lot to do with it.
Through hacking challenges of different levels and difficulty modes, these competitions 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 code snippet, 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 it takes 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. Modes can be peril games, war games (attack and defense), or mixed.
Here are our top 5 recommendations for further honing your skills while taking advantage of CTFs:
CryptoHack
Describing itself as “a fun, free platform for learning modern cryptography,” Cryptocurrency hack offers various interactive challenges related to this exciting field. It also encourages continued progress through achievement rewards and competition levels. Challenges vary from downloading vulnerable source code to decryption, making web requests to extract confidential data, and carrying out man-in-the-middle attacks. Although most challenges require coding a solution, they also provide snippets of Python source code that participants can adapt to their needs.
Hack the box
Hack the box allows individuals, businesses, government institutions and universities to sharpen their offensive and defensive security skills. It also has a CTF exercise section that includes jeopardy challenges (in web security, cryptography, reverse engineering, and forensics). Also available are complete machines featuring various difficulties, attack paths and operating systems, as well as Active Directory labs simulating real business environments with the latest attack techniques. With over 500 CTFs organized, nearly 60,000 teams participating, and over 200,000 flags successfully captured, Hack The Box is a popular choice for security managers.
Online CTF from the RingZer0 team
RingZer0 hosts over 400 CTF exercises of varying difficulty and topics, 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 face. Once approved, these solutions can be exchanged for clues. The main goal is to motivate people to share their problem-solving approaches and demonstrate different 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 offers well-structured learning paths that build information security knowledge through various tasks and challenges designed to achieve specific objectives. With an active community of students and cybersecurity professionals, TryHackMe promotes knowledge sharing, enriching the learning experience for all participants.
ESET Challenge (ESET Challenge)
If you speak Spanish, go to the Spanish version of WeLiveSecurity which has a section called ESET Disafios with more than 40 challenges specially designed by the ESET laboratory in Latin America. These exercises run the gamut and include detecting data exfiltration from an organization, reverse engineering without analyzing code, and analyzing samples to identify the spread of malware within an organization. Each challenge includes comments, opinions, and questions provided by the community that further enhance the training and learning experience.
So. Obviously, these are just a few of the many websites hosting contests that provide valuable experience to security enthusiasts and professionals and ultimately strengthen their career prospects in the field. So keep exploring and participating in these fun exercises and stay informed about CTF’s exciting challenges in the dynamic field of security. Happy hacking!
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