CloudCTF Overview¶

Abstract

This KB article provides a general introduction and overview of the U.S. Cyber Range capture the flag platform, known as CloudCTF.

An example of a CloudCTF start screen is shown.

What is CloudCTF?¶

CloudCTF is a fully featured U.S. Cyber Range capture the flag platform that can be deployed in a matter of seconds with a click of a button. It was designed for simplicity and runs in a safe and secure environment in the cloud. It can be provisioned from the Exercise Area of the U.S. Cyber Range for CTF competitions, labs, student practice, and more.

CloudCTF Features¶

CloudCTF Roles¶

CloudCTF has two levels of user roles: Admins and Players.

CTF Admin (Instructors/TA’s) – U.S. Cyber Range Instructors and TA’s are referred to as Admins in CloudCTF and can perform a wide variety of tasks for CTF administration, such as importing or creating challenges, changing CTF settings such as start and end times, adding users to the CTF, and much more. If you are an instructor or TA, please see the article titled Getting Started in CloudCTF for CTF Admins.

CTF Player (Students/Guests) – U.S. Cyber Range Students and Guests are referred to as Players in CloudCTF and solve challenges from a variety of categories selected by CTF Admins that enhance the cybersecurity education experience. Players will be able to view and solve challenges, view team statistics, and view the progress and placement of all teams participating in the CTF. If you are a student or guest, please see the article titled Getting Started in CloudCTF for CTF Players.

Challenge Library¶

CloudCTF comes with an extensive CTF challenge library that allows instructors to import challenges directly into a CTF environment. This exciting feature even gives instructors the ability to create and add custom challenges to a personal challenge library so that they can be saved for future competitions.

Note

Challenges added to a personal challenge library cannot be shared or viewed by other CTF Admins within your organization.

If you are a CTF Admin, please see the article titled CloudCTF Challenge Management for further instruction on creating, importing, and managing CloudCTF challenges.

If you are a Player, please see the article titled How To Solve A Challenge in CloudCTF.

Team Management¶

CloudCTF allows for both Admins and Players to perform Team management tasks.

CTF Admins - Admins have the ability to view, create, remove, and edit all teams within a CloudCTF environment. For detailed instructions related to Team Management, please see the article titled Team Management for CTF Admins.

CTF Players - In CloudCTF, all players are on a team even if they are playing by themselves. Permissions of players on teams are controlled by the CTF settings set by the Admin and your role within the team. For detailed instructions related to Team Management, please see the article titled Team Management for Team Leaders and CTF Players.

Public and Private CTF Competitions¶

Note

Public registration is not supported in all subscription types. Please contact support if you require public registration for your CloudCTF competition.

CloudCTF allows for both public and private CTF competitions. Public CTF competitions enable users from outside the U.S. Cyber Range to participate in a CTF, and can be created by enabling public registration in the Admin settings of a CloudCTF environment. Private CTF competitions are the default in CloudCTF and are available only to users enrolled in a U.S. Cyber Range course.

CTF Admins - Admins can learn more about creating a public or private CTF competition by viewing the Getting Started in CloudCTF KB article for CTF Admins.

CTF Players - Players can learn more about joining a public or private CTF competition by viewing the Getting Started in CloudCTF KB article for CTF Players.

Statistics¶

CloudCTF provides statistics that give insight into challenges, players, and team progress by way of the main scoreboard, team statistics feature, and admin challenge statistics board.

While the main scoreboard displays team progress and scores, and can be viewed by both Admins and Players of a CTF competition, CloudCTF Admins have the ability to view team specific statistics by utilizing the Team board, and can view challenge statistics by way of the Statistics board.

Automated Start and End Times for CTF Competitions¶

CTF Admins have the ability to set start and end times for a CloudCTF environment. This removes the need for manual intervention when needing to start or stop a competition. Please see the article titled Setting CloudCTF Start and End Times for detailed information on controlling the lifespan of a CTF environment or competition.

Themes¶

CloudCTF comes with a selection of built-in themes that allow CTF Admins to easily choose from a variety of styles that suit their needs. To learn more about changing themes, please see the article titled Changing CTF Themes for CloudCTF Admins.

Note

To get started with CloudCTF, please see the article titled Getting Started in CloudCTF KB article.

Have a Question? Contact Support¶

If you experience any issues starting or viewing CloudCTF in your web browser, please see the article titled Can't Launch CloudCTF for helpful tips on resolving the matter.

We're here to help you. If you still have questions after reviewing the information above, please feel free to submit a ticket with our support team and we'll get back to you as soon as possible.