What is a Capture the Flag (CTF) event?¶

What is a CTF?¶

A Capture the Flag (CTF) event is a computer security competition, usually held by an educational sponsor. There are many CTF formats, including Jeopardy Style, Attack/Defense, Red Team/Blue Team, Network/Host Forensics, etc., covering a wide array of security related topics from host based security, programming/scripting, system administration, reverse-engineering, to network sniffing, WiFi hacking, protocol analysis, and cryptography.

What is Cloud CTF?¶

Attack/Defense CTFs are usually run in virtualized environments, use desktop virtual machine software such as VMWare, or are run in restricted network labs as they can be somewhat unruly and dangerous to host on live office or school networks. This is where the U.S. Cyber Range really shines.

The U.S. Cyber Range has pre-configured Jeopardy style, web-based competition environments that can host hundreds of simultaneous users. As a CTF Admin, you can create these environments from within the Exercise Area of the U.S. Cyber Range. Our CTF platform, called Cloud CTF, is designed to safely host CTF events that will allow your students to compete and learn in a fun and effective way. For an overview of Cloud CTF, please see the article titled Cloud CTF Overview.

To learn more about the Cyber Range's CTF environments and web based competitions, please see the article titled Getting Started in Cloud CTF.

For more general information in CTFs, please see the Wikipedia article titled Capture the flag.

Have a Question? Contact Support¶

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

If you still have questions after reviewing the information above, please reach out to your CTF Admin or Instructor who can submit a ticket to our Support Team on your behalf.