/ctf/

Did consul from pwn.voting , it was fun

>>57444491
what's out there for total beginners (see: bandit on overthewire<>com) ?

really like it but i would like to be spoonfed small challenges one after the other each digging a bit more until you transition onto another topic based on what you've learned. also since i'm legit retard, understanding those man pages and that google-fu'ing data makes me go nuts and waste time.

>>57445565
like; they had a challenge where i had to convert a hexdump into a binary and decompress it several times using several ways. the step before that was to find differences in a text file with grep or some shit. I mean, i do get that i have to put in the effort and learn by myself as much as i can but it would've helped if they took a more lenient approach

How accessible are these CTFs to a beginner? I have a background in RE, and have a mild interest in pwning.

Do others get to see how embarrassingly bad I'm doing? Or can I try and fail at the first challenge and revel in my private shame, then come back and try next time

>>57445666
retardanon here.
only the server admin can see how shit you are i think. you're just connecting to a machine with ssh and try to get the key or flag or w/e the fuck.

>>57445741
Ah awesome, I've just heard about them so often I wasn't sure how game-ey they were (scoreboards etc). Server admin is fine to me.

>>57445741
however what i'm talking about are wargames and not CTF's. from what i understand CTF's are quake-like. you protect your file and try to get the enemy's one. so it's more of a competition than an actual way to learn shit

>>57445666
For larger competitions they usually have you make an account and register under a team name. You can just use a 10minute mail and be on a team by yourself though so it's effectively anonymous.

I can write python (though nothing to do with servers or netcode) and have absolutely no idea how I would even start to get into this sort of thing but I'm interested in it. What books should I read to learn about this?

>>57447714
Read writeups. A writeup is where people who have solved a challenge explain everything they did to get the solution. Ctftime has links to some great ones.

Coursera has some great free online courses on cryptography and computer security.

>>57444491
thank you op

>>57444491
Yeah I enjoy CTF in TF2

Only for fun when I am bored, facing worlds is still a great map especially with low gravity.