Tom De Wandel
Tom De Wandel Tom is a cybersecurity intern at Ordina, his preferred field is red-teaming and he loves doing CTF's.

Cybersecurity challenge Belgium

Cybersecurity challenge Belgium

Hi, my name is Tom De Wandel, an intern at the Ordina security unit. Recently I participated in the qualifiers of the Cybersecurity challenge (CSC) Belgium. These were held from Thursday 10th of March 10:00 until Friday 11th of March 18:00. Around 250 teams participated consisting out of max 4 members.

The CSC was organized for the first time in 2015 and is since then a yearly event. Only students can join, and when you reach the finals, you need to verify your studentID. Students battle for the big prize, a trip to DefCON Las Vegas.

The concept of the CSC is to Capture The Flag (CTF). The idea is, you need to solve challenges where only a small description is given. A file or an IP address is presented and from there on you need to use your knowledge on how to solve the challenge to find a flag. These were in the following format: CSC{This_Is_A_Flag} or CSCBE{This_Is_A_Flag_Too}.

The challenges in the 2022 qualifiers were made from various themes; crypto, exploit, forensic, programming, mobile, reversing, misc. and web. Each challenge was categorized from easy, medium to hard. And was worth 500 points, but it gets worth less points, the more teams that solved the challenge.

I feel most confident in web and forensic challenges, but in the qualifiers, I also looked and solved challenges from other themes. That was really nice to widen my knowledge and interests. Unfortunately, there was a change in my team at the last minute and only I was the main player in the team. However I found 5 flags and almost found a 6th; I was really close on that one!

The top 40 teams in the qualifiers will advance to the finals that will be held at the Royal Military Academy from Friday 25th of March until Saturday 26th of March. Here new challenges are waiting for the teams. Ordina is one of the main sponsors for the event and made a challenge for the finalists.

The finalists will start with the “pre-finals” where the teams will solve challenges during 4 hours. These challenges are similar to the qualifiers but they are designed to be solvable only with your smartphone, pen and paper and of course your brain. You’re not allowed to use laptops. The top 8 teams of the pre-finals and the top 8 teams of the qualifiers will play the next CTF challenge. Here you will use your laptop. The top 12 teams of the CTF challenge will advance through to the final on Saturday. Those 12 teams will solve expert challenges without laptops in the morning, and another CTF challenge in the afternoon. Then finally, the top team will be selected.

If you are a student who’s studying cybersecurity in Belgium, I recommend you to participate the CSC next year. You may receive prizes especially if you reach the finals; that’s maybe an extra reason to go. Also check out if your school doesn’t open some classrooms where your team and other teams can sit. Usually they will provide you with snacks and beverages! ;)