The Baku Higher Oil School of SOCAR (BHOS) has hosted a CTF (Capture the Flag) competition with the participation of teenagers aged 12-17, organized by the Association of Cybersecurity Organizations of Azerbaijan (AKTA).
The companies Interprobe and UnifyBytes acted as the technical organizers of the competition, which was held with the support of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the company Cyberpoint as part of the project “Raising the level of awareness of students of general education institutions in the field of cybersecurity".
The main goal of the CTF competition is the practical application of cybersecurity skills in a competitive environment. Participants in CTF competitions gain knowledge and experience in the field of cybersecurity, make new professional connections and gain experience in conducting cybersecurity research.
The opening ceremony of the CTF competition was attended by representatives of a number of government agencies and private companies. Opening the ceremony with a keynote speech, Chairman of the Board of AKTA Elvin Balajanov greeted the participants and informed them about the competition, as well as about the measures that AKTA will implement in this area.
Speaking at the ceremony, BHOS Rector Elmar Gasimov, Head of the Cyber Security Center Davud Rustamov, Advisor to the Chairman of the Agency for Innovation and Digital Development Shahin Aliyev, Sector Head of the Ministry of Science and Education of the Republic of Azerbaijan Vusala Aliyeva, Director of Cyberpoint Fuad Niftaliyev, CEO of Unifybites Mahir Yuksel, Deputy Chief Technology Officer of Caspian Innovation Center LLC Rauf Mahmudlu, 5th-year student of Information Security at BHOS Huseyn Gambarov and 1st-year student of Information Security at BHOS Narmin Valieva shared their views on the relevance of the event and gave recommendations to the competition participants.
As part of the competition, the participants were assigned tasks in such areas as exploiting vulnerabilities and loopholes in web applications, cryptography, reverse engineering, etc. The teenagers were performing the tasks in a team format.
Three teams that showed the highest results were awarded. The teams that took first, second and third places received 2,000, 1,000 and 500 manats, respectively. Apart from that, a valuable gift was presented to the team that answered the Joker's Question.
The CTF competition “Kiber Ulduz” is organized within the framework of the CTF National League, established by the Association of Cybersecurity Organizations of Azerbaijan (AKTA). AKTA, founded in 2022, brings together the country's companies and organizations specializing in information technology and cybersecurity. The Association supports strengthening and increasing the potential of the cybersecurity ecosystem in our country.