The Ohio Cyber Range Institute to host inaugural statewide Capture the Flag cyber competition

The University of Cincinnati’s Ohio Cyber Range Institute (OCRI) will host the first-of-its-kind statewide Capture the Flag (CTF) cyber competition April 12 to build skills and bring greater awareness to the cybersecurity field.

“In Ohio, via the Ohio Cyber Range Institute, we have the ability to connect every region in our state to advance the cybersecurity workforce who will be protecting our critical systems and information,” said Bekah Michael, OCRI Executive Staff Director. “This centralized effort is cost effective and breaks down silos providing everyone access to learn these critical skills and prepare to work in this growing field.”

The competition for K-12 and higher education students will take place 11 a.m.-4 p.m., Saturday, April 12, at six locations and remotely so that any student can participate:

• UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub
• Cedarville University
• Kent State University
• The Ohio State University
• Stark State College
• Shawnee University

The schools participating are a part of the OCRI’s 25-member Regional Programming Centers that make up a statewide ecosystem of cybersecurity education and workforce development organizations. The CTF competition is being run and managed by the Ohio Cyber Range Institute at UC.

Students will have the opportunity to practice offensive and defensive cybersecurity techniques using the Ohio Cyber Range platform. Snacks will be available and special recognition prizes will be awarded to individuals in the following categories:

• Use of publicly available data and tools to solve investigative challenges
• Find and analyze evidence left behind by malicious actors
• Decipher hidden messages and uncover secrets using modern and historical encryption standards
• Identify hashing methods and crack passwords using Kali Linux
• Examine logs and network traffic captures to determine attacker actions
• Identify vulnerabilities in systems to understand how attackers might exploit them
• Reverse-engineer binaries to uncover hidden information and exploit vulnerabilities in web apps

Those participating in the day’s competition are encouraged to register a team of four to five members to join in person or virtually.

To register, fill out the form. Upon registration, a team captain must be identified. The CTF is not for individual participation, but individuals can register, and every attempt will be made to assign them to a team.

Questions: contact the Ohio Cyber Range Institute at ocri@ucmail.uc.edu