"Capture the Flag" Cyber Security Competition Held

The BAU Cyber Security Center, which aims to contribute to the training of qualified cyber security experts and to raising awareness, organized the Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.

The Capture the Flag competition brought together cyber security experts, white-hat hackers and students, aiming to gather a broad pool of cyber security talent of all ages under one roof and to build a knowledge-sharing network in this field. In the CTF, which brought together cyber security professionals, students and hackers, competitors tried to win by working on 15 questions on topics such as Cyber Security, Web, System, Network, Crypto, Misc and Theory in a cyber environment created for them. It was stated that 50 competitors took part after a tough elimination process out of a total of 120 applicants, and it was announced that the winning groups would receive cash prizes in Bitcoin. The competition, which began with the opening speech of BAU President Prof. Dr. Şenay Yalçın, saw young people compete fiercely.

Stating that they organized this competition to train people and raise awareness in cyber security, Erol Aktay, Cyber Security Specialist at the BAU Cyber Security Center, said they were holding the first edition of the competition that day: "We organized the Capture the Flag Competition as a competition for people working in cyber security. Today we are holding the first edition. We have nearly 50 participants. These competitions are generally team-based. We will ask our competitors around 15 questions. As for the question format, we will ask competitors to obtain information from certain places and to infiltrate certain places. At the end of the day, based on the teams' scores, we will award cash prizes of 2,000 TL to first place, 1,000 TL to second and 500 TL to third. There will also be symbolic gifts. By giving the prizes in Bitcoin, we will be doing something different."

"WE RECEIVED NEARLY 120 APPLICATIONS"

Also talking about the process of selecting the competitors, Aktay said: "We did not want to make the selection with a standard form, because competitors need to come with a certain level of knowledge. To be able to answer our questions, competitors need to be qualified in this field. With a website we set up, we actually created a 'challenge' for them. We admitted those who passed a certain difficulty level we set. We received nearly 120 applications. Our basic selection principle is to give young people a place in the competition. We also tried to include high school students. We think it was a good selection. There are also 14- and 15-year-olds in the competition. It is promising for us that they are motivated at this age and take part in the sector. In the future, they will serve this sector as more qualified people in this field."

"CYBER SECURITY IS THE FIFTH ELEMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENSE"

Also sharing information about cyber attacks, Aktay emphasized that cyber attacks cannot be prevented directly and said that the quality of human resources in this field needs to be increased in our country.

Aktay said: "Cyber attacks have become something like a fifth element of national defense. Just as a country can be attacked by air and by land, in cyber security attacks can target online environments via the internet. The first thing we need to do is improve somewhat in terms of hardware and software. We need to use our own products in this field. Most of the time we need to be on the defensive, but in some necessary situations on the offensive. These are carried out by the will of the state. Especially in the last five years, there have been very serious public investments in cyber security. There have also been changes in legislation in this field. Our contribution to this field, alongside R&D activities, is essentially to train qualified people. That is why we organize such activities. We also want to avoid foreign dependence in cyber security. In this way, we are trying to increase the quality of human resources."

First-year Computer Science student Furkan Sonkaya said they took part in the competition to test themselves. Stating that they came to the competition as a ready team, Sonkaya said: "We formed our team this week. During the preparation stage, we did practice exercises online."

Another group of competitors, who said they work in cyber security, stated that they formed their team online and had not met face to face before. The group's spokesperson described his interest in cyber security as follows: "We are all people working in the sector. My interest in cyber security began with a virus that infected my computer. When I examined the virus's code, I saw that it was actually very simple software. Competitions like this are very important for improving ourselves technically. For us, these competitions are like solving puzzles."