Hackers compete in hacking competition in Bonn
On 26 November 2022, the hacker event of the year took place at the IBM Garage for Defense in Bonn.
Over one hundred hackers applied to take part in Capture The Flag in Bonn. Sixty of them were able to take part and compete with other hackers from all over Germany and beyond.
Competition and networking as the goal of the Capture The Flag event
Together with CGI and IBM, we at Laokoon Security have, after more than half a year of organisation and preparation, put together a hacker competition that is second to none.
After an almost endless period without any events organised by the hacker community, the CTF in Bonn was a welcome change for everyone involved.
However, the focus of the event was not only on the competition, but also on the exchange with like-minded people and the exchange of experiences between experienced and rookies was the declared aim of the organisers.
Teams from all over Germany and beyond took part
In addition to professional CTF teams from all over Germany, teams consisting of experienced penetration testers from a wide range of companies and newcomers from various universities also took part. In particular, the Ruhr University Bochum, the University of Bonn, the Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences and the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences were represented with teams.
'Fun with Shellcode Loaders' as Red Team Insights
After the on-boarding on Saturday morning, the participants were first able to explore the spacious location, the IBM Garage for Defence. The organisers then welcomed all the hackers.
Jean-Francois Maes, instructor at the SANS Institute, then gave an insight into C2 networks and how to hide exploit payloads in order to prevent or at least delay detection. Exciting insights, especially for all those who are familiar with Red Teaming employ.
At twelve o'clock it was time to let's hack!
Full of vigour, the teams threw themselves into the thirteen challenges provided in a wide range of categories.
From web applications, reverse engineering, jail-breakout, OSINT and cryptography, everything that belongs to a good Jeopardy CTF was represented. Together with the well-known challenge provider in the scene Hack The Box the hackers were able to rely on the usual very good quality.
A total of fourteen flags were collected in the planned six hours.
Impressive performance by Dragos Albastroiu
The winner was decided after just three hours: Dragos Albastroiuwho travelled all the way from Zurich. The Romanian and experienced CTF player won the CTF in his favour. In fact for himself, as he solved all the challenges himself in record time due to the cancellations of his team-mates.
Second place went to the FluxFingersthe official CTF team of Ruhr University Bochum. The teams from TU Darmstadt and Paderborn University finished in third place.
Congratulations to all the winners!
Pizza and drinks after the CTF
After completing the challenge and six hours of concentration, the participants had really earned their pizza. At the same time, the delivery of over ninety pizzas was a good icebreaker to get into conversation with the other teams, exchange ideas about the challenges and learn about other possible approaches.
Even before the award ceremony, all thoughts of competition had been put to rest and the teams celebrated together well into the night.
Next year again - the organisers swore to each other that very evening
On the evening of the successful event, the organisers from Laokoon Security, CGI and IBM shook hands that it would not remain a one-off event. The declared aim is to give hackers from Germany another opportunity to demonstrate their skills in the coming year.
The positive feedback from the press and the Participants made it clear that a truly extraordinary event had been created here. It was not only the General Gazette Bonn in advance, also WDR and the Tagesschau showed why such events are so enormously important.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants of the event once again.
By the way: We regularly give our employees the opportunity to Participation in competitions and Capture The Flag events as part of their working hours. Here you can find out more.