CTF Tips and Tricks

Explore essential tips and tricks for creating and running Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions in this informative conference talk from Circle City Con 5.0. Discover strategies to design engaging challenges, including creating immersive stories, reducing entry barriers, and promoting lateral thinking. Learn how to make CTFs more accessible and enjoyable for participants of all skill levels. Gain insights into effective challenge design, including the use of signposts, clear success criteria, and elegant simplicity. Explore technical aspects such as utilizing the Google CTF Framework, leveraging cloud providers like Amazon AWS, and implementing Docker for containerization. Address common misconceptions about CTFs and learn how to handle questions, admit mistakes, and ensure smooth operations through proper backups and source code control. Dive into advanced techniques like generating challenges with Python and iterating from historic challenges to create compelling new content.

Create an Immersive Story
Reduce Barriers to Entry
Induce Lateral Thinking
MAKE IT FUN!
I'm not a CTF person.
CTFs don't teach you about the real world.
If I'm not going to win, it's not worth trying
Signposts are Essential
Clear Criteria for Success
Elegance in Simplicity
Google CTF Framework (Heavily customized)
Amazon AWS (Any cloud provider)
Docker (Containerize early and often)
A balance between evading questions and spoonfeeding.
Fix. Admit. Move on.
Backups, Backups, Backups. (And source code control.)
Generating with Python (Writing code that writes code)
Iterating from Historic Challenges
Save your server configs!