The UNCOVER Project partner, Université de Technologie de Troyes (UTT), organized, between May 17th and 19th of May, a great Capture the Flag event for UTT students in Troyes, France.

The objective was to organize a steganalysis contest for UTT students. The profile of the students was quite varied, among masters in the “computer networks and security” program, some were from different faculties and some were undergraduates. This diversity enabled preparation for the UNCOVER Summer School that reflects the diversity of trainees’ backgrounds.

Capture the Flag in Troyes was held May 10-12, 2023 and consisted of two phases: (1) the first day (May 10, 2023) was a lecture delivered in the form of a workshop, including hands-on and practical development of programs to implement the presented concepts and (2) a two-day 30-hour Hackathon (May 11-12, 2023) that proposed 15 challenges that students should solve.

Feedback received on the event was very enthusiastic, students were motivated and learned both “theoretical knowledge” and “practical skills”. The context of challenge-based CTF, along with the competition/contest, was widely recognized as important incentives to push students to learn, to find innovative solutions outside of the direct application of the concepts studied during the one-day training.

The next UNCOVER Capture the Flag event will be held in Prague, Czechia from September 4-8, 2023 and will focus on Law Enforcement Agents (LEAs) and PhD students. More details on the project website.