Registrations open for Hack Istanbul 2021 contest

ISTANBUL

Turkey will host an extraordinary hacking competition called “Hack Istanbul 2021” in which the skills of hackers from around the world will be pushed to the limits by advanced real-life cyber-attack scenarios prepared under the guidance of the world’s top experts.

The Hack Istanbul CTF (Capture the Flag) contest will be organized under the auspices of the Presidential Digital Transformation Office within Turkey’s aviation, space and technology festival, TEKNOFEST.

The deadline to register for the contest is June 30.

According to Hack Istanbul’s official website, candidates will be able to apply individually or in teams of four. The competition comprises three stages.

In the first stage, which will take place on July 16, hackers will challenge each other in categories of web security, cryptography, reverse engineering and forensic medicine.

“Hackers who succeed in the preselection stage will qualify for the second preselection challenge, which is a Jeopardy-style CTF containing challenges with different levels of difficulty and complexity,” the website said.

The 18-hour CTF challenge will take place on July 30, and only the best hackers will qualify for the final round at TEKNOFEST.

The top 10 teams who succeed in the CTF challenge will be invited to Istanbul for the final challenge at Istanbul Atatürk Airport on Sept. 21 and 26.

The winner will be rewarded with $7,000, the runner-up with $4,000 and the contestant who finishes third with $2,000. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will present the awards to honor the winners.

“The project basically aims to raise awareness regarding cybersecurity and bring new talents to the sector,” the official website said.