MetaCTF CyberGames 2021 Recap
Overview
MetaCTF CyberGames 2021 was our 7th annual capture-the-flag (CTF) competition and our largest event to date! The event was free and open to everyone, and it challenged participants of all skill levels to learn new cybersecurity techniques and skills covering a variety of topics such as binary exploitation, cryptography, forensics, reconnaissance, web exploitation, and more.
During the 48-hour CTF, hosted December 3-5, 2021, over 3,400 participants worked in teams of up to 4 to solve 66 different CTF challenges & hunt down 13 different bonus flags scattered throughout the competition. Every CTF challenge had at least one solve by the close of the competition. We had participants from all 50 states in the US, over 110 different countries, and over 400 universities from across the world.
Livestream
Throughout the CTF, we also hosted a livestream that included several talks, mini-games, and bonus flags. The livestreams are available for replay here:
- MetaCTF CyberGames Day 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5Gv0pk7mRI
- MetaCTF CyberGames Day 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EG_S4DXCFCU
- MetaCTF CyberGames Closing Ceremony: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNnVpVdMJcc
Thank You
We want to sincerely thank all of the sponsors, challenge developers, speakers, mentors, and Admin staff that made it all possible!
We also want to thank the participants for their fantastic memes.
Scoreboard
Below is a picture of the top 15 teams (out of over 1,300 active teams) from the final scoreboard. While students and non-student teams were ranked on the same scoreboard, 7 out of the top 10 teams were student teams (rock on!). The full scoreboard is available here: https://compete.metactf.com/60/scoreboard_public.
Announcements
Finally, see below for some of our most recent announcements after the close of MetaCTF CyberGames 2021:
- Participants can download a PDF certificate from the platform by going to the competition landing page and clicking "Participation Certificate"
- Challenge submissions have been re-enabled. The scoreboard won't change, but you can submit answers and use the competition challenges for practice
- Thank you for submitting your writeups and t-shirt designs! We will be taking a look at those in the weeks to come and publish the results soon.
- Swag recipients and prize/trivia/raffle winners have been contacted!
Thank you all for joining us, and hope to see you all next year at MetaCTF CyberGames 2022!
We'd like to extend a special thanks to Applied Network Defense for supporting this event!
Applied Network Defense is an information security practitioner-focused company dedicated to developing and providing high-quality, affordable training. Founded by Chris Sanders, AND focuses on education that addresses real problems through creatively designed courses allowing for structured practice, critical feedback, and active discussions. All AND courses are online and on-demand but include direct instructor interaction and interactive elements designed for high retention and application. You can view a list of AND course offerings at https://www.networkdefense.co/.
