The CTF crew is once again hard at work preparing challenges for this year’s competition. As in the past, the first day of the conference will be CTF prep while the actual competition will take place on Day 2 (Friday, June 8th). Even though it will contain some hard challenges, this is a learning CTF – not just a bash-your-head-against-the-wall competition. As such, there will be plenty of challenges from lockpicking to recon and web exploitation for people of all levels and backgrounds. Additionally, you may choose to compete as an individual or form teams of up to 5 people – there are separate prize categories for both.
You will need an updated Kali machine, but we will provide everything else.
Below is a list of some of the skills/topics that have been covered in previous years.
Entry Level: Primarily aimed at beginners and those with a less technical background, focusing on basic infosec skills and concepts.
- Rot N encoding
- Google Fu / OSINT
- Examining website source code
- Basic file analysis (eg. file, strings)
- Trivia
Intermediate: Expect to begin taking a deep dive into the core categories by finding and exploiting vulnerabilities, cracking passwords, etc.
- Extracting objects from Wireshark dump
- SQL Injection
- URL Fuzzing
- Cracking password hashes (using john, Hashcat, etc)
- Reverse Engineering and Disassembly
Hard: For our battle-hardened, seasoned CTF players which will challenge competitors to truly think outside the box, crack encryption, exploit binaries, and more.
- Blacklist filter evasion for SQL Injection
- Binary Exploitation (buffer overflows and more)
- Cracking RSA Encryption
- Multi-step OSINT investigation
- Hardware
In addition, we are always looking for volunteers to help out with creating and testing all of the problems. If that interests you, please reach out to us at contact [at] metactf.com, and we’ll add you to the mailing list.
We are pleased to announce that CrowdStrike has sponsored the CTF this year!
Finally, good luck to everyone and we’ll see you in June!
Will Gragido is a seasoned security professional with over 20 years’ experience in networking and information security. Will’s extensive background is the result of his service as a United States Marine, a consultant with the world renowned International Network Services, Internet Security Systems (now IBM ISS), McAfee, Damballa, Cassandra Security, RSA NetWitness, Carbon Black, Digital Shadows and now Digital Guardian where he leads the organization’s Advanced Threat Protection Product Line as its Director. Lead author and co-author of three Syngress Press titles
Ksenia Peguero is a Sr. Research Lead within Synopsys Software Integrity Group. She has eight years of experience in application security and five years in software development. Ksenia is a subject matter expert in static analysis and JavaScript frameworks and technologies. Before diving into research, she worked in a variety of software security practices including penetration testing, threat modeling, code review, static analysis tool design, customization, and deployment. Over the years, she performed numerous engagements for clients in financial services, entertainment, telecommunications, energy, and enterprise security industries. Throughout her consulting career, Ksenia has established and evolved secure coding guidance for many different firms, and has delivered numerous software security training sessions. Ksenia speaks regularly at events around the world, such as BSides Security in London, Nullcon in India, RSA in Singapore, and AppSec Europe in Italy. She has also served on review boards of AppSec USA and AppSec EU conferences.





Bob Siegel is the president and founder of Privacy Ref. Starting Privacy Ref in 2012, Bob took his experience as the Senior Manager of Worldwide Privacy and Compliance at Staples, Inc. and applied that to assisting companies implement and maintain strong privacy programs. Bob has worked with many different organizations, dealing with programs of all sizes and regulatory needs. Seeking to always improve his own understanding of all things privacy, Bob has earned certifications from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. These include certifications in US private sector, European, and Canadian privacy laws. Bob has also earned certifications in Information Technology privacy and privacy program management. Bob Siegel has also been recognized as a Fellow of Information Privacy by the IAPP for his outstanding dedication to the privacy community. He has also served on the IAPP’s Certification Advisory Board for the CIPM program and the IAPP’s Publication Advisory Board. Bob Siegel currently maintains his blog at Privacy Ref, but is also a writer at CISO.com. You can find his blog, Operational Privacy on CISO.com