The CodeMash CTF (Capture The Flag) is back for 2020…. And it starts 12/30/19!  Yes, you read that right.. This event starts before the conference!  This year, the ENTIRE CTF was designed and built by CodeMash attendees. And a few pigmy sharks, but they were just hanging around waiting for bacon most of the time.  Anyway, thanks to all of them, and the CodeMash Conference for making this happen! We appreciate the awesome information security community inside this conference.

What is this thing all about? A Capture The Flag competition is a technological puzzle game played online, that requires insight and good research skills to discover the secrets within, capture the flags, and learn about the technology that backs up all of this cool stuff we use every day.  You don’t have to be a security specialist to play. Almost all of the challenges just require a good knowledge of how software, file formats, and the Internet works. Starting at 12:00 PM December 30th, we will turn on early access to the CTF, so that you can get your feet wet and do a little hacking before the conference.  Then, on the Tuesday morning of the conference we will open the rest of the challenges. Even if you aren’t going to the pre-compilers, you can work the items from home.

Head over to https://cmctf2020.ctfd.io/ and make your account right now.  The menu at the top will give you access to the challenges, overall scores, and what flags you have captured.  Follow codemashctf on twitter to get updates, hints, and more.

Only CodeMash attendees can win. The game ends at 3:00 pm the last day of the conference, and prizes will be handed out at the closing ceremonies. You must be present to win! If you are not there, your prize will go to the next eligible player in line.  To make sure only CodeMash attendees can win, one of the challenges will be an onsite mission where you have to find and capture the flag inside Kalahari.  Only players who enter this flag will be eligible to win.

There are prizes, but this is mostly about learning and having fun.  The top four finishers will get slightly neater prizes, but everyone that solves a challenge can get cool swag, while supplies last.  Give it a shot!  Ask for help!  Those of us walking around with CodeMash CTF beer thermoses I mean coffee cups can give you a hand.  Follow @codemashctf on Twitter and keep an eye on the CodeMash Slack channel for the CTF.  (There might be a flag on there too…)

Any questions, please reach out on twitter @codemashctf or @sempf.  And good luck!