{"id":9071,"date":"2020-04-29T14:05:38","date_gmt":"2020-04-29T21:05:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/origin-www.parsons.com\/?p=9071"},"modified":"2023-07-25T16:59:08","modified_gmt":"2023-07-25T20:59:08","slug":"leveling-up-your-cyber-skills-a-guide-to-capture-the-flag-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.parsons.com\/2020\/04\/leveling-up-your-cyber-skills-a-guide-to-capture-the-flag-part-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Leveling Up Your Cyber Skills \u2013 A Guide To Capture The Flag (Part 4)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Cyber<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hosting a CTF: Part 4 \u2013 How to Create \u201cFind the Flag\u201d Content for Jeopardy-Style CTF Event<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Now that you have some tips on creating solid content, let\u2019s\nwork through an example of creating a challenge together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have an idea for a basic cryptography challenge where you will display hex data to a user and say, \u201cfind the flag,\u201d and they\u2019ll simply have to convert the hex to ASCII. This is a good, simple challenge,<\/strong> since many harder challenges hide flags in files as hex, so knowing how to convert hex to ASCII or how to quickly recognize hex that is encoding alphanumeric characters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we have to create a flag to encode. We will use\nflag:X as our format. We let our brains go wild and choose flag:Playtomil (I\nlike fake words that are pronounceable and memorable\u2014some people use UUIDs or\nphrases.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An easy way to convert that to hex is via an ASCII-to-hex\nconverter. I often use RapidTables (https:\/\/www.rapidtables.com\/convert\/number\/ascii-to-hex.html<\/a>).\nThe conversion yields 666c61673a506c6179746f6d696c.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, you have to decide if you want to make your challenge\nsimple by saying, \u201cDecode this to find the flag: 666c61673a506c6179746f6d696c,\u201d\nor if you want to come up with a scenario simply for this question, such as the\nfollowing:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\nJohnny, the coder in the office next to you recently left your company but failed to commit his latest update to the project you\u2019re working on before he left. You need that update to meet your delivery date tomorrow. Luckily, it\u2019s stored on his laptop, so you easily should be able to get it. Unluckily, he properly encrypted his hard drive, so you\u2019ll need to recover the passwords first to boot it up and get the code. You found a sticky note under his desk that you think might be the encoded password. It reads \u2018666c61673a506c6179746f6d696c.\u2019 Try to decode and find the password so you can meet your delivery date.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n

\n

If you\u2019re BetMGM login apptrying to theme or create a scenario for the entire CTF, you\u2019ll want to theme questions accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Let\u2019s do one more example. We want to hide a flag in an\nimage, for which we\u2019ll provide the wrong extension and mangle the first couple\nbytes of the file (requiring them to fix the first couple bytes to open the\nimage and view the flag).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, we have to come up with the flag to hide. We\u2019ll go\nwith flag:wonderfullynumb. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, we\u2019ll start with an existing image and simply paste\nthe text on it. Pixabay is a good place to get free images you can use for whatever\nyou want. I\u2019ll also just use random pictures I have sitting on my hard drive of\nmy camera, like a picture I have of one of the CTFs we did at the Georgia Cyber\nCenter in August. Download the image and open it in your favorite image editor\n(I recommend Gimp). Then, in a font color that clearly stands out from the\nimage, add \u201cflag:wonderfullynumb\u201d to the image and save it, let\u2019s say as a\n.jpg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"CTF<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now change the file\nextension to .exe, just to confuse folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next, edit the file in your favorite hex editor (I love\nHexer, but there are many options). Let\u2019s zero out the first 4 bytes of the\nfile, which will leave the familiar \u201cJFIF\u201d that people can google to discover\nit\u2019s a .jpg file, but will prevent the file from opening without fixing the\nbytes we changed first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now you can create a fun question for the challenge, or just go with the basic \u201cFind the flag in this file.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note that both of these are effectively \u201cfind the flag\u201d questions. In the next post, we\u2019ll go over how to create more detailed content to answer questions that won\u2019t result in flag:ABCD answers. <\/p>\n\n\n

Check Out Our Other Cyber blogs: A Guide To Capture The Flag (Part 1) \u00a0<\/a>| A Guide To Capture The Flag (Part 2)<\/a> | A Guide To Capture The Flag (Part 3)<\/a> | A Guide To Capture The Flag (Part 5)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/span>
About the author<\/h5>

Nicholas J. has more than 15 years of experience supporting cybersecurity operations, engineering, development, and all sorts of crazy fun things for the U.S. Department of Defense \u2013 12 of those with Parsons!  Nicholas currently serves as Cyber Thaumaturgy Director of the Collection & Analytics Portfolio, working hard to bring more fun and technical awesomeness to both our amazing Parsons team and the community at large via tech talks, large-scale interactive training sessions, Capture the Flag events, and other mentorship opportunities.   <\/p><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hosting a CTF: Part 4 \u2013 How to Create \u201cFind the Flag\u201d Content for Jeopardy-Style betmgm live dealer gameCTF Event Now that you have some tips on creating solid content, let\u2019s work through […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"10478,9857,9029,9336,8540,9579","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7663],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cyber"],"yoast_head":"\nLeveling Up Your Cyber Skills \u2013 A Guide To Capture The Flag (Part 4)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hosting a Capture The Flag: Part 4 \u2013 How to Create \u201cFind the Flag\u201d Content for Jeopardy-Style Capture The Flag Event. 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