Kinetic IT has again sponsored WA Capture the Flag (WACTF), a two-day Cyber Security competition held in Perth last weekend.
Open to anyone and aimed at encouraging people into the industry, the event has participants flex their coding and hacking skills in progressive challenges covering digital forensics, web application exploitation and cryptography.
Kinetic IT Head of Security Services Kevin O’Sullivan said the event was a great way to engage with the next generation of Cyber Security professionals.
“Kinetic IT focus on being active in the Cyber Security community,” O’Sullivan said.
“Building a capability that is sustainable to meet all the requirements that we have in Australia is massively important.”
WACTF Co-founder and WA Director at Trustwave Aaron Doggett said WACTF connects people who are studying or interested in Cyber Security with industry professionals.
“Pretty much most of the technical cons will have a CTF component, mostly though they’re aimed more at the established level,” Doggett said.
“So, it’s going to be a bit harder than what we do here because this is aimed at bringing people into industry.”
Engaging the next generation of Cyber Security professionals
There was a big rise in the number of high school-aged participants with about 50 students and 10 teachers signed up this year.
It was impressive to see a high school team come in a close second place, against some stiff competition including established professionals.
“It was amazing to see how many high school teams are involved now,” O’Sullivan said.
“The amount of talent we have coming just from the high schools was just fantastic to see.”
Doggett said WACTF is run on donations and sponsorships, with the pizza bill alone coming in at $3,800.
“No one gets paid to do this at all. The whole thing is run off the goodwill of companies that just want to do it.”
Kinetic IT has been involved in WACTF since its inception, along with colleagues at Hivint, Diamond Cyber and Asterisk.
Now in its third year, WACTF has boomed in popularity and the organisers had to cap participants at 250.
“We had to stop regos about three weeks ago because we had too many people. It’s a good problem to have,” Doggett said.
Find out more about WACTF: https://capture.tf/
