1 00:00:02,930 --> 00:00:07,330 Remember the game you played as a kid, with flags hidden in opponents' terrain? 2 00:00:07,330 --> 00:00:11,370 Now, imagine the field or code, and the flags are secret data. 3 00:00:11,370 --> 00:00:17,770 Players exploit security flaws to capture the flags while at the same time defending their networks from opposing teams. 4 00:00:17,770 --> 00:00:22,970 These capture-the-flag, CTF events, are as diverse as the teams that play them. 5 00:00:23,070 --> 00:00:27,690 This is a global competitive community with thousands of players and global rankings. 6 00:00:27,690 --> 00:00:32,650 It's been a part of the origin story for a great many prominent security experts. 7 00:00:32,730 --> 00:00:35,090 So what do these hacking games look like? 8 00:00:35,090 --> 00:00:40,890 CTFs can be either in-person or online, and usually take place over a weekend or other short period. 9 00:00:40,890 --> 00:00:45,490 They often have a qualification round that determines who gets to participate in the finals. 10 00:00:45,530 --> 00:00:50,410 CTFs are sometimes themed around a specific domain, like space for HackASAT. 11 00:00:50,410 --> 00:00:55,910 But more commonly, they are not specialized and include a wide variety of different types of challenges. 12 00:00:55,910 --> 00:00:58,010 The most common types of CTFs include... 13 00:00:58,970 --> 00:01:05,370 Jeopardy CTFs, sometimes called Red Team CTFs, are named for their use of the classic game board as a scoreboard. 14 00:01:05,370 --> 00:01:06,990 These are more offensive-focused. 15 00:01:06,990 --> 00:01:15,270 Each team is given infrastructure to attack, and the number of successful attacks, the difficulty, or the speed at which they succeed, is factored into their score. 16 00:01:15,270 --> 00:01:22,130 Attack Defense, A-D, or Full Spectrum CTFs, which are closer to the original game you might have played as a kid. 17 00:01:22,130 --> 00:01:28,790 Each team has a server or set of servers to defend, and must attack other teams while also protecting their own infrastructure. 18 00:01:28,790 --> 00:01:36,970 King of the Hill-style CTFs are Full Spectrum CTFs, in which teams score points by gaining and maintaining control of individual systems. 19 00:01:37,030 --> 00:01:42,150 And finally, the less common Blue Team Exercises, which are primarily defensive events. 20 00:01:42,150 --> 00:01:48,610 Game organizers host an environment and often a professional team of attackers to test the participants' defensive skills. 21 00:01:48,610 --> 00:01:51,550 These are more common in the high school and collegiate level. 22 00:01:52,230 --> 00:01:59,410 Even though the goal of the CTFs are to find and exploit vulnerabilities in computer systems, fair play is essential. 23 00:01:59,410 --> 00:02:05,010 There are lots of ways to win, but to get the respect of your peers, you need to have good technical solutions. 24 00:02:05,030 --> 00:02:11,930 Nobody is impressed if you use a network flood to knock the scoreboard offline, and those kinds of shenanigans will get you shunned quickly. 25 00:02:11,950 --> 00:02:19,550 The best CTF players have built specialized tools, practiced within their domains, and include domain experts in many aspects of security. 26 00:02:20,310 --> 00:02:21,630 Why CTF? 27 00:02:21,630 --> 00:02:29,810 At their core, CTF challenges are a way for hackers to build community and demonstrate and hone their skills with other equally skilled people. 28 00:02:29,810 --> 00:02:37,470 Competitions are also a chance to experience the joy of learning about a new programming language or a new piece of technology hackers haven't used before. 29 00:02:37,470 --> 00:02:44,710 Capture the Flag challenges have also been used to help train cybersecurity teams and to get new hackers interested in security research. 30 00:02:44,710 --> 00:02:50,790 Some companies even use competitions similar to CTFs to recruit and vet potential candidates for employment. 31 00:02:50,790 --> 00:02:57,410 And CTFs have had real-world impact, with competitors finding actual security flaws in contest infrastructure. 32 00:02:57,450 --> 00:03:03,050 Their solutions, while not counting towards winning the game, are often implemented in a real-world context. 33 00:03:03,370 --> 00:03:14,770 With HackASAT, we have a CTF game designed to raise awareness about cybersecurity issues in space and help researchers develop specific skills and domain knowledge they'll need to help secure this new frontier. 34 00:03:15,090 --> 00:03:22,010 But as many of the players during our Quaz round found out, there are a lot of problems unique to the environments outside our atmosphere. 35 00:03:22,010 --> 00:03:28,910 To learn more about hacking in space, check out our Space Talk videos that explain some of the most interesting space-specific challenges.