CTF (Capture The Flag) is generally translated as ctf capture the flag in Chinese. In the field of network security, it refers to a form of technical competition among network security technicians. CTF originated from the DEFCON Global Hacking Conference in 1996 to replace the way hackers conducted technical competitions by launching real attacks against each other. It has become a popular form of competition in the global network security circle. In 2013, more than 50 international CTF competitions were held around the world. As the birthplace of the CTF competition system, DEFCON CTF has also become a CTF competition with the highest technical level and influence in the world, similar to the "World Cup" in the CTF arena.
The CTF competition mode is divided into the following three categories:
1. Problem-solving mode (Jeopardy)
In the problem-solving mode CTF competition system, participating teams can participate through the Internet or on-site network. It is similar, ranked by the score and time of solving network security technology challenge questions, usually used in online selection competitions. Topics mainly include reverse engineering, vulnerability mining and utilization, web penetration, cryptography, forensics, steganography, secure programming and other categories.
2. Attack-Defense Mode (Attack-Defense)
In the attack-defense mode CTF competition system, participating teams attack and defend each other in cyberspace, dig network service loopholes and attack opponent services to score points, and repair their own service loopholes for defense to avoid losing points. The offensive and defensive mode CTF competition system can reflect the game situation in real time through the score, and finally the winner is directly determined by the score. It is a highly competitive, highly ornamental and highly transparent network security competition system. In this competition system, not only the intelligence and skills of the participating players are compared, but also the physical strength (because the competition usually lasts for 48 hours or more), and the division of labor and cooperation among teams. [1]
3. Mixed mode (Mix)
combines the CTF competition system of problem-solving mode and offensive and defensive mode. For example, participating teams can obtain some initial points by solving problems, and then perform a zero-sum game of score increase and decrease through offensive and defensive confrontation, and finally score High and low determine the winner. A typical example of using the mixed-mode CTF competition system