On Feb. 3, HarkerCTF held its first cybersecurity competition at the Nichols Hall atrium. About 60 students separated into teams to solve cybersecurity problems and answer lab questions, which required them to submit their own code for grading.

HarkerCTF, which aims to boost student interest in computer science and give advanced computer science students opportunities to test their abilities, organized the competition to give students a chance to utilize their knowledge of applied computer science concepts. In computer security, CTF (Capture The Flag) is a popular type of computer security competition.

“In order to allow all students to participate in the event regardless their previous computer science experience, and to promote more students to become interested in computer science, we have provided some introductory questions in our competition as well, so all students could learn from the competition,” said HarkerCTF president Johnny Wang, grade 10. HarkerCTF plans to invite students from other schools to attend future events.

Placing first at the event was team “VASP,” consisting of grade 11 students Sumer Kohli, Praveen Batra, Vijay Bharadwaj and Akhil Arun. The humorously named “Team Freshmen,” made up of juniors Swapnil Garg, Andrew Semenza, Adriano Hernandez and Derek Yen, placed second. In third place was “L33t Haxors,” consisting of seniors Misha Ivkov, Vedaad Shakib and Andrew Tierno.