Midnight Sun CTF, the top-rated hacking contest, has grown fast

Huhtikuu 1, 2021 at 07:50

Started not earlier than 2018, the Stockholm-based capture-the-flag competition Midnight Sun CTF has extended its’ participant rate heavily over the years. The pandemic year 2020 brought a 50 % growth for competing teams. Expectations grow as the 4th event will take place in 2021.

Fighting cyber threats on the good side

The Midnight Sun CTF idea is to gather the best hackers globally in a high-quality competition, focusing on local industry, research and the public sector. Doors are kept open for student teams as well. midnight sun ctf capture the flag hacking contestThe mission is to gain skills in the fight against ever-increasing cyber threats, especially in the industry, public, and academia sectors.

The first year open qualifiers attracted 463 teams from 53 countries. The following year Midnight Sun CTF had 756 teams, and by 2020, there were magnificent 927 teams from 99 countries attending. In the last two years, the finalists have rated the event with top scores.

Breaking and entering safely

The internet is full of hacking instructions, and young people want to try out their cyber skills. It’s addictive and fun to break something into parts just to see how it works. As important should be the moral side: if something is easy or doable, is it the right thing to do? CTFs and open contests create a safe space to hack ethically.

The competition provides the opportunity for teams or individuals to challenge and compete in the art of computer security by finding and exploiting vulnerabilities to gain access to hidden or protected data, known as a “flag". By following the score board, you can follow the results live.

Hacking and cybersecurity often involves a lot of creative problem-solving. It’s creative in a way that programming or other computing things are not. In security testing, you must look at things in unconventional ways. Investigations are very motivating.

And most of all, it’s great fun.

 

Towards Midnight Sun CTF 2021

The finals schedule is subject to change due to the corona/covid-19 pandemic situation.

 

Qualifier results

The qualifiers of 2021 Midnight Sun CTF are finished! What a ride.

Number of teams participating: 660
Number of different countries: 87
Flags captured: 1307

Russian and American teams were at the top in both pro and student classes. Two Nordic teams, bootplug from Norway and Kalmarunionen fron Denmark, made it to the top 10 in pro class. Congratulations to all!

Pro's:

#1 More Smoked Leet Chicken (RUS)
#2 perfect blue (US)
#3 An Equal Mix (US)

Students:

#1 r00timentary (US)
#2 RedRocket (DE)
#3 TRXXX (IT)

Total of 15 teams will be competing in the finals in Stockholm in August: 7 open class teams, 7 student teams, and also the winner of Säkerhets-SM will also be granted a spot in the finals.

See the full scoreboard: https://ctf.midnightsunctf.se/dashboard/scoreboard/Student 

 

 

Nixu is one of the main sponsors in Midnight Sun CTF. Midnight Sun CTF and the related security events have been conducted by KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Sweden.

 

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