This year, students were once again able to put their hacking skills to the test in the “Applied IT Security” elective module at Hof University of Applied Sciences. For the third time, Prof. Dr. Florian Adamsky organized the so-called “Capture The Flag” competition – an exciting game in which participants solve small hacking tasks to find cryptic “flags” (these have names such as “NTA1MzNlZjAyOWIwYzhkNTQxNDRjYTk1”).
These flags are then submitted via a special platform in order to collect points. The aim is to score as many points as possible by cleverly bypassing security systems.
Learning through a change of perspective
“Capture the Flag” offers students a practical opportunity to take on the role of an attacker and understand the mindset of cyber criminals. This perspective helps to make security concepts for information systems more effective.
This year, the competition was supplemented by tasks in which students had to “outwit” AI models. This involved using targeted questions and deceptions to get an artificial intelligence to reveal a flag. These new challenges provided additional excitement and highlighted the potential weaknesses of modern technologies.
The winning teams 2024
After hours of intense competition, the best teams were chosen
- AllSpark – 190 points
- Nicolas Dominik Steinert (91 points)
- Pascal Christopher Klatzek (99 points)
- Dirty Pipe – 170 points
- Andreas Santo Herrmannsdörfer (113 Points)
- Jakob Tobias Drescher (57 points)
- ReallyWannaCry – 137 Points
- Alex José Lewandowski Monserrat (137 Points)
Hacking as a small tradition
Hof University of Applied Sciences has already organized similar competitions in 2021 and 2023, which were met with great enthusiasm. This year, the concept has been expanded and modernized once again with the integration of AI tasks.
