Name: The Pirate’s Flag – Capture the Flag Challenge
Start: 2026-09-11T04:30:00.000Z
End: 2026-09-11T08:30:00.000Z
Location: Mumbai, Maharashtra

The Pirate’s Flag – Capture the Flag Challenge is a four-hour cybersecurity competition conducted as part of Zettaabyte 5.0, the annual tech festival of Thakur Ramnarayan College of Arts and Commerce (TRCAC), Dahisar East, Mumbai. This offline CTF event is designed for college students interested in cybersecurity, ethical hacking, and problem-solving. Beginners are welcome, and prior CTF experience is not mandatory.

Participants will solve practical challenges, uncover hidden flags, and earn points across multiple cybersecurity categories. The competition will be hosted on the CTFd platform with a live leaderboard, featuring 20 challenges with a maximum score of 1,000 points. Challenge categories include Web Application Security, Cryptography and Encoding, Open-Source Intelligence (OSINT), Digital Forensics, Network and Log Analysis, Reverse Engineering, and General Cybersecurity.

Event Details:

Date: 11 September 2026
Time: 10:00 AM IST
Venue: TRCAC, Dahisar East, Mumbai
Entry Fee: Free
Team Size: 1–2 members
Format: One-round, offline CTF
Platform: CTFd with live leaderboard
Total Challenges: 20
Maximum Score: 1,000 points

Competition Format: All teams will begin simultaneously and receive access to the challenges when the competition starts. Each challenge contains a hidden flag in the format specified by the organizers. Participants must discover and submit flags on the CTFd platform to earn points. Challenges have different point values based on difficulty, and teams may attempt them in any order during the four-hour window.

Judging Criteria: Rankings are based on total points earned within four hours. The top three teams secure first, second, and third place. In case of a tie, the team that reached the final score first receives the higher position. Only flags submitted before the competition closes are considered.

Rules:

Participants may compete individually or in teams of two.
Each participant may register and participate only once.
Team members cannot be changed after the competition begins.
Flag sharing, collaboration between teams, and external assistance are prohibited.
Generative AI tools are not permitted during the competition.
Participants may attack only the systems and challenges provided by the organizers.
Attacking CTFd, organizers, other participants, college infrastructure, or external websites is strictly prohibited.
Denial-of-service attacks, destructive testing, and unnecessary automated brute-force attacks are prohibited.
Any violation may result in immediate disqualification; organizers' decisions are final.

Eligibility and Requirements: Open to college students. Participants must bring their own laptop and charger. Standard cybersecurity and analysis tools such as browser developer tools, Burp Suite, CyberChef, Wireshark, ExifTool, and terminal utilities are allowed.

Rewards:

First Place: Trophy and Certificate
Second Place: Trophy and Certificate
Third Place: Trophy and Certificate

Crack the codes, expose the vulnerabilities, capture the flags, and claim the treasure!

The Pirate’s Flag – Capture the Flag Challenge

The Pirate’s Flag – Capture the Flag Challenge

Grants Closing Soon

Debt programs

Startup Software Credits

Higgsfield

Notion

Semrush

Reclaim.ai

Replit

Bolt

Manus

Warp

Hostinger

Huawei

Google

Microsoft

Competitions closing soon

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