Reports from past hacker tournaments C ^ 2

With the hacker tournament in South Africa

Russian C ^ 2: Cyber ​​Challenge is not the first hacker tournament in the world . Symantec regularly holds the Cyber ​​Readiness Challenge in different countries.

The online part of the hacker tournament is on right now, plus the registration for the offline part and the information security conference continues. In Russia, Symantec and Croc will organize this event for the first time. While the “ethical hackers” are breaking the network in the simulator, I will tell you about how several such tournaments have already passed around the world.
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Toronto Tournament

In 2012, the tournament was held in many countries. Toronto, Canada: 120 computer security experts took part (to be more exact, journalists called them experts - some of the participants were still studying for IT specialties at local universities). The plot is a hacker confrontation between two corporations: defense and “raids” of industrial espionage. The mechanics of the tournament - the problem of penetration into the network of the "enemy" on the principle of "capture the flag."

Naturally, the journalists were interested in what the hell the bad people are preparing for at the tournaments, in fact, bad people who then go to break the domestic Canadian networks. True, the degree of inadequacy is low there, so everyone understood everything. Just in case, here is a quote from Clint Sand, Symantec Security Director, which was often published:

The gaming experience will help participants better understand the goals, technical tricks and the very mindset of the cybercriminal and, ultimately, do their job better.

The prize in Canada was a small pleasant amount of 2500 Canadian dollars. A certain Tim "Dingo" Alpin won, about which, I am sure, we will hear more in the news in a couple of years. There was also a security conference.


Players

Tournament in New York

Here in the final gathered 80 specialists who decided to take a chance to test their knowledge of information security. Like the last time, users played on the principle of "capture the flag", performing a series of tasks on hacking and protecting simulated data centers. The experts went ahead, so for those who only touched the world of information security, there was a system of hints that allowed them to stay in the game.

Another security conference was also held there. “To stop a virus does not mean neutralizing the threat,” shared the opinion of Clint Sand. “Today organizations are subject to constant long-term ongoing attacks.”

Three experts who joined the team won at once. Thanks to such a union, they were able to attack more coordinatedly, which immediately gave an advantage. They presented the prize to a colleague who had a birthday just on the day of the tournament.

London Tournament

In April, at the Infosecurity conference, another Cyber ​​Readiness Challenge took place in London. By this point, it became clear that the system, originally conceived as a simulator-tutorial for the company's employees, is becoming a very interesting global competition.

We built the infrastructure that allows players to become hackers and try to hack the system, explains Shon Jones (Symantec) in an interview with Infosecurity Magazine. - Players connect to the infrastructure and perform various tasks to capture flags. A player can use hints or keys, but with each hint used, the total number of points scored by him will decrease. Usually, whoever captures the most flags of the day will win this stage of the competition and will be invited to the next stage and the final game, where he will compete with the best world experts.

The competition was open to any visitor to the Infosecurity Europe conference, from a security specialist to a guest who just dropped in. Viewers watched the game, looking at the electronic scoreboard and listening to a reportage from the scene through the headphones. Players brought their own tools, used the software and data from the Internet.

Tournament in Dallas

Here is a piece of translation from the member report ( original ):

This week, representatives from McGuire Solutions, one of our vendors of network solutions, invited me to participate with them in a unique event held at the Aviation Museum in Dallas. The event was unexpected, exciting and a bit beating on self-esteem. Although the storyline of the game turned out to be very far-fetched, the theme and technology cannot be called such. At the Symantec Cyber ​​Readiness Challenge, you encounter a criminal corporation, and, in fact, the game itself comes down to espionage. With everyday tools, you penetrate various technologies to uncover company secrets. You decrypt files, find servers, capture documents, etc.

At this event, I met with many people and was pleasantly surprised by the selection of participants: IT security specialists, IT managers, company owners and ... just visitors. I was impressed.

Video from the event in Dallas

Here's another video from Paris and from Barcelona .

Summary from the front

Online in Russia, things are now like this:

Tournament in Moscow

September 10 will be held C ^ 2: Cyber ​​Challenge in Moscow. Registration for the event is here . Can participate in Russia over 18 years old. Here is more information .