FAQ
We don´t answer individual questions regarding the competition, as we want to make sure, everyone has the same information.
(The questions are answered by different teams / people - expect different answer styles :) )
How will the traffic dumps take place and what are the limitations to capturing traffic?
We will provide downloadable pcaps.
Could you provide us with a detailed scheme of the infra?
Kindly wait for the dry run
¿IPV6 o IPV4?
Attack / Defense is IPv4
Will have the teams Access to the GameBox or will we have to send the zip/tar of the patched challenge to the infra?
Patching will take place via git, more details will be revealed during the dry run event.
How is the submitter format?
Standard TCP connection, one flag per line.
How is the scape room going to work? How many countries per team?
The draw for the teams and the time will be done at the welcome event. Teams will consist out of 4 Countries, the 5 guest countries will form a team of 5 Countries.
How exactly works the scoring freeze?
The scoreboard will stop updating 1 hour before the end on both days. There won’t be a combined dashboard, to avoid leaking the first day.
Will the tools required for the challenges be supplied by the organizers?
There is no additional hardware required. Except a RJ45-Cable to connect to the network and if required a power adapter.
Are we allowed to have our tools in addition to the player's laptop? If yes, what's the procedure?
We added a new page: Hardware Requirements
Is the HW part independent from the jeopardy challenges?
Solving the hardware challenge will bring points in jeopardy, similar as last year.
Which power plug do you have in austria?
We use Type-F / Schuko plugs in austria, make sure you bring adapters / power strips if needed.
Will there be a scheduled breaks during the competition? (ie. everyone has lunch/coffee break at the same time) if so, will the teams allowed to have lunch at once or in turns?
No, this is not planned ! We start on both day´s at 08:30 and end at 18:00 local time.
There will be fingerfood/snacks available the whole day as well as the army serves warm meals in between 11:30-15:00 direct in front oft the competition-hall.
So it´s up to your team and your teams management how to plan there day.
Will there be options for people with dietary restrictions? (vegan/vegetarian, gluten free, etc.)
Definitely two options - vegan/vegetarian - regarding gluten free - will check and keep you updated.
Will the catering be available during the whole event?
Inbetween 11:30-15:00 and from 18:30 to 21:00.
Is vaccination mandatory to participate in the event? (yes, we are aware of covid measures will be announced in september, however vaccination is another matter)
Try to get all your team-members at the 2G status - at the moment there are NO restriction - but we don´t know what might happen until september - so 2G is probably the "safest" alternativ in both cases !
2G means vaccinated or recovered - but as mentioned - at the moment there are no restrictions at all!
Are the same measures applied for the press team of the participant country (if any), ie. catering, covid measures, ability to participate in the Austrian Army's conference, etc.
The same measures/status for the visitors for the conference.
Will we be provided with an "Attack box", for running exploit scripts? If not, is the game network only accessible through the RJ45 and will we need to bring our own switch to get more than 10?
No, we will not provide an attack box. Teams are supposed to run exploits from their own laptops. If you want to have a dedicated laptop to launch exploits, you need to bring a switch with you to get more than 10 RJ45 ports.
Will there be a "NPC" to attack and test exploits against, without revealing it in pcaps?
Yes, there will be a NOP team that players can use to test their exploits without revealing attack traffic to other teams. Attacking the NOP team will NOT award points.
Is there SLA on the staging environment, so we will know if a patch failed?
We will not perform SLA checks in the staging environment
Are players' machines reachable through the game network by default?
Players in the same team can connect to each other, but connections between players of different teams are blocked.
We received some questions on technical constraints of the CTF platform and code of conduct to adopt during the competition
The game platform is designed to restrict super-human defenses. Technical limitations will be clarified during the dry run event and explained in the documentation. Concerning what you are allowed or not allowed to do, we will publish updated rules in the next few days.
That said, teams are forbidden to subvert the CTF infrastructure/platform to gain an advantage against other players. Attacking the infrastructure is out of the scope of the competition. If you find a vulnerability in the infrastructure, please contact the organizers and report it: we will reward you accordingly and you will have our eternal gratitude.
If you found a way to bypass one of the restrictions that does not exploit the infrastructure but, instead, leverages the design of a service, you may be allowed to use it. If you are unsure, please contact us during the competition by opening a ticket.
Concerning the SLA: the scoreboard will keep track of the status of the SLA and provide additional information on why a test failed. We will not disclose the actual checks performed by the bots.
On destructive behavior: we designed the CTF trying to limit the possibility of such events. Destructive behavior is forbidden. Borderline situations (e.g., exploiting a logic vulnerability in a service to make it fail an SLA check without deleting system files/flag or increasing the load) can be discussed individually during the competition. Please open a ticket and contact us.
On rewriting services: teams are allowed to do so if they consider it a reasonable solution instead of patching the service.
Is the usage of the two additional laptops restricted in any way? can we host our PCAP analysis software on them and/or the attack box? Is a VM running on one of the laptops bridged to the game network counted towards the 12 device limit? is there a limit on a real or virtual devices attached to the network?
On laptops, VMs and local infrastructure: VMs are not counted. You have access to 10 physical ports, if you need more, you need to bring a switch. You can plan your local infrastructure the way you want using max 12 laptops.
Is using a free trial of software allowed?
Yes, if it is allowed by their license terms.
How long do the rj45 cables we bring need to be?
That’s hard to answer, you will have a switch on your table, the table layout is visible on the venue page in section "Seating".
Do external computers we own ourselves count as cloud resources? Can we SSH into our own computers at home?
The cloud resources rule has been removed, feel free to use your home computers.
More generally, what is a “cloud resource”? Where do you draw the line? Can we google?
The cloud resources rule has been removed.
What tools will be provided for the hardware chall?
The hardware challenge itself.
Could you give some examples of disallowed software? Are all commercial text-editors allowed?
If a software you want to use is not on the list of allowed software, it´s disallowed. Please request an approval for all commercial software you want to use.
Where can we find the rules and code of conduct created by the steering committee?
You can find them here and here.
Please send your question to patrick.pirker@cybersecurityaustria.at, if it is a question we can answer, we will disclose the answer to everyone here.
Please collect your questions and send them in bulk, each email must contain your Team Name (Country) and your Role (Coach, Captain, Participant, ...)