Registration for The Catch hacking competition open

Prague, 04 October 2018. CESNET, in collaboration with Trend Micro, is organising its second annual hacking competition, The Catch. It is open for participation by teams of one to four members, both experienced and novice IT enthusiasts aged 15 and above, who want to challenge their analytical and “hacking” skills in a Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.

Teams can already register on the event’s website at www.thecatch.cz and try the first (practice) challenges. Those who have no team-mates need not worry – they can easily find them using Slack. The link, as well as the competition rules, can also be found on the competition website.

The competition will start at exactly 12 noon on Friday, 12 October, by posting the first challenges for Round 1, which will last until noon on 19 October. The top ten teams from Round 1 will compete in Round 2, which will be held at the Masaryk Dormitory of the Czech Technical University in Prague on 27 October. One of the teams participating in Round 2 will be selected to represent the Czech Republic in the Trend Micro CTF 2018 international finals in Japan. Moreover, there are valuable prizes for the best teams and small gifts for other players.

“Through The Catch we endorse the ideas of October as Cyber Security Month, aiming to contribute to building a more secure Internet environment and cyberspace. At the same time, we would especially like to present forensic analysts’ work to young people in more detail to show them how creative and enjoyable it can be, since there is still lack of cyber security experts,” says Andrea Kropáčová, Head of the Support Services and Security Department at CESNET.

The CESNET Association was founded by Czech universities and the Czech Academy of Sciences in 1996. It has built and developed the national CESNET e-infrastructure, designed for science, research and education, including a computer network, computing grids, data repositories and an environment for collaboration, and offers a wide range of services for universities, scientific research facilities and other institutions. The Association also does its own research and development of information and communications technology and represents the Czech Republic in major international projects, particularly in building the pan-European GÉANT network. CESNET places great emphasis on the security of network operations, services and user protection.

Last change: 6.10.2018