So first may I apologise for the radio silence, as the university year comes to an end - my head has been in complete overdrive to meet final deadlines and revise for final exams!
The last month and a bit has been hectic, so let's start from the beginning...
26th April 2018. Zero Days CTF.
Que the perfect British send off consisting of cloud scattered skies and spitting rain as my university cyber security society (#BURepresent) head on out adventuring to the far away lands of Ireland. We've been training weeks coming up to this event, and now was our time to shine..! With the kind financial support of our computing department, student's union, donors from our GoFundMe page, and of course the spot-on baking skills from our members we were able to attend Zero Days CTF 2018. It was hands down the best on-site CTF competition I have attended, with an amazing variety of challenges - the perfect difficulty may I add, and of course the brilliant "Game of Thrones" theme. I cannot wait to attend again!
The day started as per usual - divide the challenges between the team according to strengths/weaknesses and persevere as much as you can. Throw in the sponsor challenges, of which you talk to the sponsor stands to attain information to help form a flag, and group photos/selfies for flags - this was definitely the most social CTF I have ever attended. But alas, 2pm rolls around and my entire team are slamming their heads against the table - as with all CTF competitions, we hit the wall.
Fear not! Down the coffee (or by this point, some of the teams turned to pints), swap around the categories among the team and don't lose hope - for this is not the end! 2 hours later and many *explicits*, "I'M DONE!"'s, sweat dripping down the eyebrows and twiddling of thumbs - ka-ching. The flags roll in. 1000pts (Yes!). 200pts (That's right!). Buzzer. "That's it folks, the scoreboard has been frozen".
Well. We couldn't do anything now but wait... And man was it worth the wait.
"And in 3rd Place... Team Disappointment!" Huh, I guess we weren't a disappointment after all! We clamber onto the stage, collect our prizes and I couldn't be happier of my little cyber security society. We worked so hard for this - and my team definitely deserved this. 3rd out of over 60+ teams from all over Europe, this was definitely my biggest CTF achievement so far. I can't thank my team enough - we are the absolute dream team, and of course a massive thank you to everyone that made it happen for us to be able to travel to Dublin in the first place (Yipee! We did it!)
So it can't get much better from here, can it? 3rd at one of the largest CTF competitions I have ever attended, currently averaging a solid 1st at university - I was over the moon!
Fast forward a week or two later... "Congratulations! Your talk has been accepted for the Rookie Track at BSides London 2018!".
No. Way. Up until now I had only dreamed of speaking at a cyber security conference. Well now? That dream was a reality.
From n00b to 1337: a CTF Story - it wasn't the most technical of talks or topics, and in no way was I expecting to actually be accepted! Well, I guess I'll have to crack on with it now!
Based one of my previous posts (Keyboard Warriors: Let the games begin) this talk was going to be not-your-average InfoSec conference talk. 15 minutes of CTFs, how they helped me and my career and how they have created and intertwined a culture within the information security community - I was absolutely ecstatic, but also extremely nervous.
I am not a public speaker, the only real public speaking I had done was at the European Cyber Security Challenge 2017 in Spain, representing the United Kingdom (rumour has it my presentation actually scored highest out of all the countries though!). But then I thought to myself, this is something I love. This is something I live day in, day out - cyber security. I kid you not, a solid 90% of my time and breath is used on cyber security. Whether that be for university, or just for pleasure and/or fun - unfortunately (or fortunately actually) I am now completely engulfed by the mad hacker-y fun of cyber... and I wouldn't trade it for the world.
So if you fancy seeing a n00b deliver a not-so-technical (but I promise fun!) talk - catch me at 12.05pm on the rookie stage at BSides London 2018 on the 6th of June. Or if you want, just grab me if you see me hovering round the conference - I'll be happy to chat.
So. Shamrocks, Slideshows - now the Sugar-loaded drinks.
Well, as I am writing this I have an exam on Monday to prep for. With the final piece of coursework now handed in 6000 words later (yes!) I am now burying myself in caffeine, coloured gel pens and revision cards... it'll be over soon and soon I will be living the high life of freedom and finally being able to pursue some personal projects and hacker-y fun.
Until then, see you on the flip side! (Or at BSides London, seriously come grab me and say hi!)
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