What is CTF and how to get started!

CTFs are one of my favorite hobbies. I love the feeling of solving a particularly difficult task and seeing all the puzzle pieces click together.

So what is CTF?

CTF (Capture The Flag) is a kind of information security competition
that challenges contestants to solve a variety of tasks ranging from a scavenger hunt on wikipedia to basic programming exercises, to
hacking your way into a server to steal data. In these challenges,
the contestant is usually asked to find a specific piece of text that may
be hidden on the server or behind a webpage. This goal is called the
flag, hence the name!

Like many competitions, the skill level for CTFs varies between the
events. Some are targeted towards professionals with experience
operating on cyber security teams. These typically offer a large cash
reward and can be held at a specific physical location. Other events
target the high school and college student range, sometimes offering monetary support for education to those that place highly in the competition!

CTFtime details the different types of CTF. To summarize, Jeopardy
style CTFs provide a list of challenges and award points to individuals
or teams that complete the challenges, groups with the most points
wins. Attack/Defense style CTFs focus on either attacking an
opponent's servers or defending one's own. These CTFs are typically
aimed at those with more experience and are conducted at a specific physical location.

CTFs can be played as an individual or in teams so feel free to get your friends onboard!

I'd like to stress that CTFs are available to everyone. Many challenges
do not require programming knowledge and are simply a matter of
problem solving and creative thinking.

Challenge types

Jeopardy style CTFs challenges are typically divided into categories.
I'll try to briefly cover the common ones.

Cryptography - Typically involves decrypting or encrypting a
piece of data
Steganography - Tasked with finding information hidden in files
or images
Binary - Reverse engineering or exploiting a binary file
Web - Exploiting web pages to find the flag
Pwn - Exploiting a server to find the flag

Where do I start?

If I managed to pique your curiosity, I've compiled a list of resources
that helped me get started learning. CTF veterans, feel free to add your
own resources in the comments below!

Learning

http://bit.ly/2nYJ0jj - Introduction to common CTF techniques such as cryptography, steganography, web exploits (Incomplete)
http://bit.ly/2mtwmbK - Tips and tricks relating to typical CTF challenges/scenarios
http://bit.ly/2o0s8J5 - Explanations of solutions to past CTF challenges

Practice

Many of the "official" CTFs hosted by universities and companies are
time-limited competitions. There are many CTFs however that are
online 24/7 that can be used as practice and learning tools.

Conclusion

CTF is a great hobby for those interested in problem-solving and/or
cyber security. The community is always welcoming and it can be a
lot of fun tackling challenges with friends.

Thank you for reading!😊

Regards:- Shubham Yadav ( Cyber Security Expert ).