CTF 101 Series: What about the "Other" Category?

A Capture-the-Flag or “CTF” is a cybersecurity competition designed to test and sharpen security skills through hands-on challenges that simulate real-world situations. MetaCTF offers training in eight different categories: Binary Exploitation, Cryptography, Web Exploitation, Forensics, Reconnaissance, Reverse Engineering, CyberRange, and Other / Miscellaneous.  This blog is part of a series that explains what each category covers, why the subject is important, and how to approach these problems.

Why does MetaCTF have an Other / Miscellaneous category?

The world of cybersecurity is broad and ever-changing. Plus, many of the organizations who seek training with MetaCTF have unique needs. The Other / Miscellaneous category is a catch-all to help us organize and deliver any important learning opportunity that doesn’t fit neatly into our seven primary CTF categories (Binary Exploitation, Cryptography, Web Exploitation, Forensics, Recon, Reverse Engineering, CyberRange).

What will CTF content in the Other / Miscellaneous category look like?

Because the Other / Miscellaneous category is meant to organize a broad base of learning, the training style varies. The important thing to know is that we design the training style to best deliver the relevant content in a fun, engaging way. Common examples of challenges in the Other / Miscellaneous category include hacker trivia knowledge or physical challenges (like picking a door lock). Some companies will include questions related to their internal security policies. We've even included social engineering challenges in this category (anti-phishing). If you want to include something unconventional in your CTF, it likely fits into this category.

Why including content from our Other / Miscellaneous category will benefit your CTF

If you have a need related to cybersecurity training, but aren’t sure whether it fits into one of our standard categories, we likely can still design and deliver an educational solution.

Other clients choose the Other / Miscellaneous category as a more exciting way to deliver information that might otherwise be boring. For example, organizations have asked us to deliver event information in a trivia-style game alongside questions about cybersecurity 101 and hacker culture.

Want to learn more about cybersecurity training options for your team? Schedule a demo here or email us at contact@metactf.com.