Table of contents
1. Introduction to the competition
2. Introduction to CTF Direction
2. MISC (Security Miscellaneous)
4. Reverse (reverse engineering)
6. AWD (offensive and defensive confrontation)
1. Introduction to the competition
CTF (Capture The Flag) is a popular cybersecurity competition format designed to help participants learn and improve cybersecurity skills. In the CTF competition, participants need to obtain flags by solving a series of security challenges, which can involve cryptography, reverse engineering, vulnerability exploitation, network analysis and other fields.
CTF competitions typically have multiple categories, including Problem Solving (solving specific types of problems), Web (attacking and defending web applications), Binary (analyzing and exploiting binaries), Forensics & Analysis (analyzing forensic images or network traffic), etc. . Competitions may be between individuals, teams or schools and can last anywhere from a few hours to a few days.
Participating in CTF competitions is very helpful in learning and improving your cybersecurity skills. Through the CTF competition, participants can learn common security issues in the real world and exercise their offensive and defensive skills. In addition, CTF competitions promote teamwork and information sharing, allowing participants to collaborate to solve problems.
If you are interested in CTF, you can search some well-known online CTF platforms, such as CTFtime, Hack The Box, Root Me, etc., to find competitions or learning resources that you can participate in. At the same time, there are many security communities that also hold regular CTF competitions. You can follow these communities to get the latest competition information. Remember, the process of participating in CTF competitions is not just about solving problems, but more importantly, learning and growing.
2. Introduction to CTF Direction
1. Web (Web Security)
(1 Introduction
Web is the most important question type in CTF, and it is also the first type of question for most people to get started with CTF. This kind of question involves common web vulnerabilities, such as: SQL injection, XSS, CSRF, file upload, inclusion, download, code execution, deserialization and more. There are also some investigations on the basics of the network: TCP/IP protocol, packet content and structure, etc.
(2) Involving main knowledge
Basic knowledge of computer network, TPC/IP protocol, the use of common vulnerabilities and their repair principles, Python, PHP, SQL, basic front-end language (HTML+CSS+JS), Linux, etc.
2. MISC (Security Miscellaneous)
(1 Introduction
MISC is the most comprehensive category of topics in CTF, and it is also a slightly more difficult category. It mainly involves steganography, traffic review, forensic analysis, social engineering, data analysis and statistics, etc.
(2) Involving main knowledge
Steganography and anti-steganography tools, traffic analysis tools, forensic analysis tools, social engineering, etc.
3. Crypto (cryptography)
(1 Introduction
Including classical cryptography and modern cryptography, classical cryptography has many types and is more interesting; modern cryptography has high requirements for mathematics, algorithms, and programming skills
(2) Involving main knowledge
Encoding, base conversion, classical cryptography and modern cryptography thought, algorithm, number theory, advanced mathematics, etc.
4. Reverse (reverse engineering)
(1 Introduction
With the wide application of computer technology in various fields, especially the rapid development of software development technology, based on a certain software, it has become the focus of software reverse engineering technology to infer its data structure, architecture and program design information by disassembling and reading source code. main object of .
CTF includes software reverse engineering, APK reverse engineering, cracking technology, virus analysis, firmware analysis, etc. Contestants are required to have good skills in disassembly and decompilation
(2) Knowledge points involved
Computer composition principles, computer hardware related knowledge, assembly language, C/C++, algorithms, common encryption and decryption algorithms, IDA, OD and other disassembly tools and the use of shelling tools
5. PWN (binary security)
(1 Introduction
PWN mainly refers to writing and using scripts to crack the program to obtain the system authority (shell) through the loopholes in the program itself, so as to obtain the flag, which mainly involves some heap overflow and stack overflow vulnerabilities.
(2) Knowledge points
C/C++, operating system principle, data structure, algorithm, assembly language, use of tools such as Python, Linux, IDA, OD, PWNTOOLS, etc.
6. AWD (offensive and defensive confrontation)
AWDP: Attack With Defense, that is, offensive and defensive confrontation. In the game, each team maintains multiple servers. Generally, there are multiple vulnerabilities in the server (including web layer, system layer, middleware layer, database layer, etc.), and using vulnerabilities to attack other teams can During the hardening period, you can find loopholes and harden the server to avoid being attacked by other teams and lose points.
In the early years, AWD was mainly divided into a red team and a blue team. The red team was responsible for attacking and the blue team was responsible for defending. However, with the continuous development of information security technology and the continuous improvement of requirements, the requirements for both sides are not limited to attack and defense. Now in the AWD mode, the two sides can both attack and defend each other, and there is no real attack and defense.
AWD is also the mode that has the highest requirements on the overall level of players. Because it is basically a simulated offensive and defensive confrontation in an actual combat environment, it has a great test on the technical requirements of the players themselves, both psychologically and physically.
