Demystifying Capture the Flags (CTFs)

DerpCon 2020 presentation on CTF formats, the skills they require, and the experience they develop.

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Presentation by Barrett Darnell at DerpCon 2020

Capture the Flag (CTF) competitions range in style and difficulty but each and every CTF offers a wealth of knowledge for any participant.

This presentation explores how both technical and non-technical skills learned through CTF participation can be applied to real world information security challenges.

Presentation covers:

  1. What's a CTF and CTF styles
  2. Challenge types
  3. Technical skills
  4. Non-technical skills
  5. Post-analysis
Barrett darnell

About the author, Barrett Darnell

Bishop Fox Alumnus

Barrett Darnell was a Senior Operator at Bishop Fox and a technical lead for the Continuous Attack Surface Testing (COSMOS) Managed Security Service. Prior to coming to Bishop Fox, he served as an exploitation operator in the US Department of Defense's most elite computer network exploitation (CNE) unit. As a top-rated military officer, Barrett led an offensive operations team in the US Air Force's premier selectively-manned cyber attack squadron. Barrett also teaches SANS SEC660: Advanced Penetration Testing, Exploit Writing, and Ethical Hacking to a worldwide audience. Barrett holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Washington State University and a Master of Science in Software Engineering from the University of West Florida.

More by Barrett

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