What is a CTF?

In a Capture The Flag (CTF) competition, the goal is to obtain the 'flag' by hacking into a vulnerable system. For example in web challenges, you have to break into a website to obtain the flag. Whereas in cryptography, you have to break the encryption to obtain the flag.

The flag is a string of text that you submit to the competition platform to score points. It usually looks something like this:

FLAG{Th1s_1s_aN_ExaMplE_fl4G}

This flag can then be handed in to the competition platform to score points. The team with the most points at the end of the competition wins.

Here are a few resources to get started:

PicoCTF
HackTheBox
CryptoHack

We have put together a short document on how to lockpick based on the Wikihow website and short video of ARS_21:
Link to Lockpicking PDF.