The Gathering 2017
HACKING COMPETITION
FAQ
Updated 1 day ago
What is CTF?
CTF is short for Capture The Flag, and is a type of hacking competition. The most known types of hacking competitions are Jeopardy-style CTF and attack-defence CTF. At tghack, we host a Jeopardy-style CTF. As in Jeopardy, there are several categories, each of them having several tasks with a certain amount of points. The points usually represent the difficulty of the task.
What are the different categories?
There are several categories in CTFs. We present the most common categories, and the ones we use in our contest.
Crypto
Crypto is short for cryptography, where information is protected by encrypting it (some kind of transformation) into an unreadable format, also referred to as the cipher text. The cipher text may only be read by the ones possessing the secret key to decipher or decrypt it.
Misc
Misc is short for miscellaneous, and contains all the tasks that do not fit in any of the other categories. Sometimes, this means that it's a task that spans several categories.
Pwn
Pwning a system is the act of exploiting a vulnerability to gain higher privileges than intended. In this category, you have to discover vulnerabilities and leverage them to gain remote code execution. This is by far the most difficult category.
Reversing
Reverse engineering is the act of picking apart a system to figure out how it works. In this category you will have to discover how different programs work to recover hidden flags and other information.
Stego
Stego is short for steganography, and is the hiding of a secret message within something, for instance in a picture. For example by hiding a zip file inside a picture.
Web
In the web tasks, you have to discover weaknesses in different web sites and services. Most of the tasks are done in your web browser. Common web tasks include SQL-injections, XSS, input sanitation.
AFK
AFK is short for away from keyboard. When a CTF is hosted at some place, afk tasks usually require one to be present at that certain place. In tghack, you are usually required to visit the UiO stand, and we LOVE when you guys come talk to us!^_^)/*
How do I participate?
To participate, press the Sign in with Geekevents button on our home page, and register with your Geekevents account. Geekevent login enables the team sign up. Register a team name to create a new team, or use the team code given by the team member who registered your team, to join the competition.
How many may join our team?
There is usually no limit in the number of members within a CTF team. For instance, our team 0xc0ffee has about ten members, usually about two or three team members active in a competition. However, remember that the monetary price is divided among the team.
What should deliver?
This type of hacking competition is called a CTF. CTF is short for Capture The Flag, and the aim of each challenge is to get hold of a flag. A flag is in the format TG17{some_text}. The flag is human readable, so that it is somewhat easy to separate from other text. Each challenge specify what you should do or deliver in order to fulfill the requirements. If the flag is not in the ordinary format, it is specified in the challenge.
How do I win?
For each challenge solved you are awarded with points. The winner is the team having the most points. If two teams share the same score, the one that obtained the score first wins.
Do I need hacker experience?
No, you do not! We have made it possible for anyone, with or without hacker or programming experience to try a little bit of hacking! We have made a tutorial for beginners, and tasks for this tutorial in the category n00b on the front page. The other categories contain beginner tasks as well, which are marked with the text n00b.
How do I find more CTFs?
There are CTFs almost every week. Check out CTFtime's web page. CTFtime contain all the coming CTFs and rates all the registered teams by looking at the solved tasks in CTFs. Register and compete against our team, 0xc0ffee! ;)
What is tghack's role with Creative?
Creative is the part of The Gathering that arrange workshops, presentations and hosts a lot of competitions. We host tghack through Creative, and they provide the prize for the winners.
Can I find solutions for the tasks?
After the competition, we go through a set of tasks chosen by you guys at the Creative auditorium! The walkthrough takes place 20.00 o'clock on Saturday 15th of April, and we have two hours available. On Friday morning, we publish a poll on the front page, so make sure to vote on the tasks you want to learn how to solve. All of the tasks have writeups that will be published a little while after the competition ends. The writeups contain possible solutions, and is written so that you should be able to learn how to solve similar tasks in the future.
Is there an awards ceremony?
Hell yeah, it is! After the walkthrough in the Creative auditorium, all the competitions' winners are announced on the main stage, Saturday 15th at 00.00. Come and cheer for the most 1337 hackers at TG!
How do I find the Instagram account?
Important juridical information
Hacking systems and networks without permission is illegal. We do not encourage or condone abusing or breaking into systems to which you have not been granted explicit access. This competition is intended to teach awareness about methods and techniques so that you can protect yourself from them, not to use them against others.
Misconduct
You may only work against targets which the specific tasks lead you to. You are not under any circumstances to attack any computer systems, web sites or other infrastructure outside the specific assignments of this competition. In addition, you may not attack the infrastructure of the competition, including but not limited to the competition website and/or related equipment.
Fair play
Although the hacking compo is competitive, do not sabotage, distort, misdirect, destroy or in any other way prevent the progress of the other participants.
Keep your secrets
You are not allowed to provide or distribute any solutions to other participants. You are however allowed to collaborate and discuss the tasks with others, provided that your final solution to any task is your own.
Disqualification
Breaking these rules will result in immediate disqualification. The competition organizers will be the sole judge of what qualifies as breaking the rules. The decision to disqualify any participant is final and not open for appeals.
