Time for my second CTF! Over the weekend (Feb 24-26 2023) I participated in my second CTF competition, MagpieCTF. It is hosted by the University of Calgary Information Security Club, geared towards beginner to intermediate level players. Since my first CTF left me a little disapointed as my team didn’t cooperate as one, I chose to tackle this one alone. Oh boy did that make it much more difficult.

As the rules prohibited players from asking third parties for solutions or methods of attack, I was left only with the power of browsing the web in research so I can learn of different methods to solve the challenges. But I’ve never been one to back down from a challenge so I steamrolled ahead.

I will be posting my writeups for each challenge that I solved successfully, and noted. Unfortunately I was unable to see my final rank since I had to leave a few hours before the CTF ended but overall it was a good experience. I learned how important it is to have a team that can communicate effectively and have a variety of skillsets which would allow for an easier time with the challenges.

For those interested, below is the category breakdown: breakdown