Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to know anything about hacking to take part?
Absolutely not! Whether you're an experienced Red/Blue Teamer or someone entirely new to the cyber security and IT world, and you're interested in learning about cyber security in a fun and immersive way. Then UWE CTF Falcons is open to you. Alongside your studies at UWE the CTF Falcons offers advice on various online resources such as tryhackme.com and hackthebox.com that are industry recognised learning portals.
We also offer support and mentorship to introducing freshers and postgrads alike to the world of CTF challenges, and learning all about the intricate world of cyber security.
What is a CTF?
A CTF or Capture-The-Flag is a cyber security related challenge wherein you attempt to solve various puzzles or problems to decipher, hack into or exploit a vulnerability in a computer system to allow you to gain access to the flag. The flag is useful a simple text file hidden somewhere on a system, or is generated by the puzzle upon completion of the task at hand.
These challenges range from answering simple questions on cyber security related topics, to highly complex scenarios that require you to demonstrate a number of sophisticated techniques and high level understanding of cyber security issues.
It's not all about hacking either! CTF's come in many forms from Blue Team events, wherein teams attempt to secure and defend a network from pesky red teamers trying to hack in, to cryptography challenges wherein you need to crack the code just like Alan Turin, exploiting vulnerabilities in a misconfigured web server, and analysing a system for malware as a digital forensics officer.
The variety and scope of CTF's make them suitable for anyone with a passion for cyber security.
What types of events do you take part in at the UWE CTF Falcons?
Well the obvious answer here is CTF's! No only do we organise and host internal CTF competitions, ably supported and encouraged by our generous Cyber Security teaching staff at UWE, CTF Falcons also take part in national and international competitions.
UWE CTF Falcons have a friendly rivalry with the Cyber Security Society at Rowan University, Delware in the USA. The Head of their MSc Cyber Security program is a UWE alumni, and it's through that connection amongst others that UWE and Rowan students have begun to build a network of friendly competition between them.
UWE CTF Falcons also take part in national and international CTF events like the Sans Digital Forensics Challenge, The International Cyber Security – Center of Excellence (INCS-CoE) Country-to-Country (C2C) Capture the Flag (CTF) competition, otherwise known as C2C CTF. A little closer to home BAE Systems has for the last few years hosted a CTF in early November at UWE. Which in 2023 was won by a couple of UWE CTF Falcons founding members.
Alongside this, UWE CTF Falcons plan trips to various cyber security conferences across the south west region such as BSides Bristol and BSides Cheltenham, and a few of our founding members even trapsed up to London in December '23 for Black Hat Europe.
We are first and foremost though, a university society! So, we do have an active social calendar throughout the academic year.