Capture The Flag | IIT Kanpur

Overview: Techkriti’27, IIT Kanpur presents Capture the Flag (CTF) — a cybersecurity competition where participants solve practical security challenges in a simulated real-world environment. Identify vulnerabilities, apply technical problem-solving skills, and capture hidden flags to score points. The competition will challenge participants across areas such as penetration testing, reverse engineering, cryptography, and vulnerability exploitation, requiring them to choose the right tools and techniques to solve increasingly challenging problems. Guidelines: Team Composition: Participants can compete individually or in teams of up to 2 members. The contest is team-rated, and participants forming a team must register accordingly. Eligibility: Open to undergraduate students, postgraduate students, and professionals worldwide. Only participants who are currently enrolled as university students will be eligible for prizes. Registration & Prize Eligibility: To claim prize money, participants must register on both the competition platform and the Techkriti website. Fair Play & Disqualification: Any form of malpractice or plagiarism will result in immediate disqualification. Participants must follow all competition guidelines. In case of any dispute, the decision of the Techkriti Team, IIT Kanpur, will be final. Rules & Event Structure: Competition Format: The competition will consist of a single round featuring numerous cybersecurity and cryptographic challenges, approximately 8–10. Each challenge will contain a hidden flag, represented as a string of characters, which participants must discover to earn points. The contest will be conducted online and will have a duration of 6 hours. Each problem will be accompanied by a problem statement and relevant code for participants to analyze and work with. Winners will be determined based on their total score. In case of a tie, the participant/team with the faster submission time will be given preference. The event platform will be announced separately. Difficulty Progression: The challenges will increase in difficulty as the competition progresses, testing participants' ability to identify vulnerabilities, analyze systems, and apply appropriate cybersecurity techniques. Participants may need to demonstrate skills in penetration testing, reverse engineering, cryptography, and related areas of cybersecurity. FAQs: Winner in case of a tie: In case two or more participants/teams have the same score, the one with the faster submission time will be given preference. Negative marking: The marking scheme will be announced before the test. Individual participation: Yes. Participants can compete individually or in a team of a maximum 2 members.