UBC competitive hacking team to organize this year’s top-tier cybersecurity competition
Team of computer science students and alumni from UBC and Carnegie Mellon University to design upcoming DEF CON Capture the Flag challenge
After a historic four-year winning streak, a team of over 30 students and alumni from UBC and Carnegie Mellon University are organizing the next DEF CON “Capture the Flag” cybersecurity competition. The team, now organizing under the name Benevolent Bureau of Birds, will be responsible for creating both the qualifying rounds in May and the final competition in August. The final competition takes place each year in Las Vegas during the annual hacker convention, DEF CON.
“It’s like being asked to host the World Series,” said Dr. Robert Xiao, Associate Professor at UBC’s Department of Computer Science, who leads UBC’s competitive student hacking club Maple Bacon. “It’s an honour to have been granted this opportunity. We’re excited and anxious to see how it will all play out.”
Dr. Xiao and UBC alum Jamie Polintan led the proposal that was submitted to the competitive bidding process, securing a fixed four-year term for Benevolent Bureau of Birds to organize the yearly Capture the Flag challenges. The team, which will be receiving financial support from UBC’s Faculty of Science and Department of Computer Science and administrative support from the department as well, is already in the midst of the planning process.
While the UBC team has organized virtual Capture the Flag competitions in the past, this will be the first large-scale, in-person challenge they will help host.
“We want to emphasize community and the enjoyment of these competitions,” says Polintan. “We plan to create technically interesting challenges, but we also want to continue to foster this community that we are part of.”
DEF CON brings together nearly 30,000 people each year, which includes students, researchers, professional cybersecurity experts and other hacking enthusiasts. For the Capture the Flag competition, teams try to break into each other’s systems to extract “flags” (which are strings of text) while patching up vulnerabilities in their own systems.
Organizing this competition is no easy feat — the Benevolent Bureau of Birds will have to design every aspect of the challenge, from what the participants can hack into, to the physical layout of the space, to the formats of the competition. While the details are still under wraps, the organizing team is excited to see the adaptability and flexibility of the competitors.
“The timing is right,” says Dr. Xiao. “We've got a great team of people who are passionate and fired up about organizing and have the experience and expertise to do that.”
“It’s a way for us to give back to the community,” says Polintan.
UBC’s Maple Bacon team is still competing in Capture the Flag challenges. If you are a student who is interested in cybersecurity, visit the Maple Bacon webpage for more information.