CTF Club: Sub-Z3r0 CTF

Our last event of the semester: Sub-Z3r0 CTF! We went all-out for this competition, collaborating with NUSecurity and Northeastern’s chapter of Women in Cybersecurity (WiCyS), catering food, handing out fliers, and getting our college to publicize the event to all Khoury students. With over 60+ competitors, it was the largest ever student-led security event at Northeastern.

The two aforementioned clubs helped with event logistics, while we created the challenges. We included many easy challenges to make the event accessible for complete beginners, and a handful of harder challenges definitely stumped those with more experience. See some challenges here.

Reflecting on this past semester, CTF Club has been a smashing success. We’re new, but our general meetings pull an average audience of 30+ engaged members. It has been an absolute joy to organize, create challenges for, and lead meetings. Undoubtedly my favorite part of every week. We also developed and hosted three CTF competitions. See an overview of our events at the website I made for our club here.

It has been an immense learning experience, both from a technical and leadership perspective. I love our board, and in just a few months we’ve become a seamless, supportive team, and friends.

In September we set out with a goal: to create an inclusive and collaborative community of cybersecurity enthusiasts where members of all experience levels could learn hands-on, technical, offensive security skills through accessible workshops, trainings, and competitions. I feel like we’ve achieved this, and I can’t wait to continue growing in the Spring.