HACK@AC Information
Competition Details
HACK@AC is a Capture-The-Flag competition, where participants play to earn points by solving problems relating to cryptography, data security, and other prominent cybersecurity issues.
- Date: 24 February 2024 (8:00am - 8:00pm)
- CTF Duration: 12h
- Venue: Online
- Team Size: Up to 4 members from the same school
There will be 2 divisions with separate prize pools: Secondary school Category and JC/Poly/ITE Category.
Prizes (Secondary division):
- 1st Place: $500
- 2nd Place: $300
- 3rd Place: $200
Prizes (JC/Poly/ITE division):
- 1st Place: $500
- 2nd Place: $300
- 3rd Place: $200
Note: ACS (Independent) students are not eligible for prizes
Note: All participants (including Poly/ITE students) must be 21 years old or younger to participate
Note: If you were previously a secondary school student, and are waiting for Poly enrollment in April, you can still play under the Poly category
Categories include Crypto, Forensics, Miscellaneous, Programming, Reverse Engineering, Web and Pwn.
Workshop Details
A training workshop will be conducted prior to the HACK@AC CTF for all participants, alongside training challenges to complement the workshop. The workshop will also be recorded and uploaded.
Workshop Details
- Date: 23 February 2024 (4:00pm - 7:50pm)
- Venue: Online on YouTube stream
Categories covered: Crypto, Web and Pwn
Finale Details
One week after the competition, an in-person finale will be held, alongside challenge walkthroughs, prize presentation and a buffet lunch. Additionally, all participants will receive limited-edition HACK@AC collectibles!
Finale Details
- Date: 2 March 2024 (9:00am - 2:00pm)
- Venue: ACS (Independent) 121 Dover Rd, Singapore 139650
Sign Up
Spots will be filled on a first-come first-serve basis so sign up quickly!
An email will be sent to confirmed participants with more information about the competition closer to the date.
Rules
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Hack@AC is open only to current students from local secondary schools or JCs/Polytechnics/ITE. Both Singaporean and non-Singaporean students are welcome to participate.
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You may only participate as team of up to 4 members from the same school. Teams of smaller size may also participate.
- Winners will be decided based on the scores, subject to follow up verification using (but not limited to) the following means:
- submission of sufficiently detailed writeups challenges selected by the organisers
- elaboration on how challenges are solved over video conference
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Winners will be revealed during the finale event, the scoreboard will be frozen until then
- Participants are bound by the laws of the Republic of Singapore, including but not limited to the Computer Misuse Act. In addition, participants who engage in cheating or anomalous behaviour will be disqualified at the sole discretion of the organisers. This includes:
- Seeking help from any external party outside your team
- Sharing of flags or hints to another individual or team
- Denial/interruption of services required for the competition
- Obtaining or attempting to obtain illegal access to computer systems
- Each participant is required to be an existing student from a local educational institution, verified as follows:
- Each participant is required to use an email address from a Singapore educational institution (secondary school or JC/Poly/ITE) for successful registration
- Each prize winner will be required to present a proof of study
- To ensure fairness, any team wholly or partially consisting of the following may not participate/will not be eligible for prizes:
- A participant who is not an existing student from a local secondary school or JC/Poly/ITE
- Personnel from ACS(I) involved in the organisation of HACK@AC
- Existing ACS(I) RTS Members
- Other ACS(I) Students
- All decisions made by the organisers are final, including decisions on eligibility, awarding of prizes, cheating or misconduct, termination of activity, or disqualification. The organisers reserve the right to change the rules where required.
FAQ
Q: How many challenges are there?
A: There will be several challenges per category. If you want to know the exact number, you’ll have to join to find out ;)
Q: What training or skills would I need to prepare for the CTF?
A: The workshop will cover some basic skills which will be useful for the CTF. However, challenges in the CTF will require skills beyond what is covered in the workshop.
In addition, here are some online resources that will help you get started in your preparation for CTF competitions:
These resources will help you build a good foundation around the skill-set and critical thinking required to solve CTF challenges. In addition, write-ups on solving challenges in past CTF competitions may be found online. These write-ups would also provide you a good understanding of how CTF challenges may be solved.
Q: What do I need to prepare for the competition?
A: All participants are required to setup their own system. Some challenges will require a Unix-based system to solve. You may wish to setup a virtual machine if you do not have one.
Q: What is the format of the competition?
A: Participants will attempt to earn the most points by solving competition challenges. At the end of the competition, points scored by each team will be added. The tiebreaker will be the time taken to solve the challenge.