About this hackathon
Overview
Seize da Flaq is a national-level Capture The Flag (CTF) cybersecurity competition designed to challenge participants with realistic, hands-on problems across multiple domains of cybersecurity. From web exploitation and cryptography to digital forensics, OSINT, reverse engineering, and other security challenges, participants will need to think like real-world security professionals to uncover vulnerabilities, exploit weaknesses, investigate evidence, and capture flags.
The competition follows a two-stage format, giving participants an opportunity to prove their skills before entering the final battlefield.
Stage 1 — Prescreening Round
16 October 2026
4:00 PM – 12:00 AM
8 Hours | Online
The prescreening round will test participants across a diverse range of cybersecurity challenges. Teams will compete on the live platform, and the top-performing teams will qualify for the Grand Finale.
Stage 2.1 — Grand Finale
21–22 November 2026
12:00 PM, 21 November – 8:00 AM, 22 November
20 Hours | On-site
Stage 2.2 — Final Evaluation
8:00 AM – 11:00 AM, 22 November 2026
Qualified teams will enter the Grand Finale, an intense on-site CTF where they will face advanced and carefully crafted cybersecurity challenges.
The Grand Finale is designed to test not only how quickly participants can capture flags, but also their ability to understand, reproduce, document, and demonstrate their techniques.
Winner Validation
The final leaderboard will not be the sole basis for determining the winners.
After the competition, the Top 10 teams will be required to submit their write-ups, technical presentations, and Proof of Concept (PoC) demonstrating how they solved the challenges.
The organizing team will evaluate:
Technical understanding of the challenges
Methodology and approach
Quality and correctness of the PoC
Technical presentation and ability to explain
Authenticity of the submitted write-ups
The final winners will be announced after the completion of the technical evaluation and validation process.
Competition Guidelines
The competition will run continuously for the specified duration.
Sharing flags, solutions, write-ups, PoCs, or accounts is strictly prohibited.
Any form of cheating, unauthorized collaboration, or exploitation of vulnerabilities in the CTF infrastructure/platform will result in immediate disqualification.
Automated tools are permitted only where they are relevant to solving the intended challenges; abuse of automation against the competition infrastructure is prohibited.
Participants must not attempt to disrupt, damage, or gain unauthorized access to the CTF platform or infrastructure.
Final results are subject to flag validation, technical review, and anti-cheat verification.
During the Grand Finale, participants are not permitted to leave the event venue after the competition begins, except in the case of a genuine emergency. In such cases, only the affected participant(s) may leave after approval and verification by the organizing team.
Unauthorized departure from the venue may result in disciplinary action or disqualification of the team.
The battlefield is live.The flags are waiting.
Are You Ready to Seize the Flaq?
Think. Exploit. Investigate. Defend. Capture.