Calling All Joes!

Joe registration for the BSides LV Pros V Joes competition is now open!

Pros V Joes website:  http://prosversusjoes.net/
(Please note the game is on Tuesday, August 8 and Wednesday, August 9)

What is the Pros V Joes CTF?

This event is an opportunity for average users (Joes) to try their hand at both the defensive and offensive side of computer security.  As a Joe you will learn from seasoned professionals who will lead and mentor you as you develop the skills to protect your network.  You’ll also have the opportunity to work with a seasoned penetration tester/hacker who will start you on the path developing those skills. For the Pro's, it's a chance to hone and show off their skills, helping others to learn and better themselves.  It's a lot of fun, no matter which side you’re on.

Joes are split up into teams, each with a Pro captain and co-captain, then given their own network to defend against the Red Cell.  Each team's network comes complete with all of the services, servers, and desktops common to a corporate environment today. Your mission is to secure the systems, maintain business-critical services, find the Red Cell, and expel them while keeping them from getting back in.  Of course, there will be more than a few surprises...

For two days, players will attack and defend in live networks, breaking into each other's systems to steal flags for fame and glory.  For the first day, Joes are completely defensive, and on day two, Joes will both defend and attack the other Joe teams. Each team is provided with their own network that is full of servers and workstations to defend.  All of this gear is housed in a dedicated and isolated network that we affectionately call the Gaming Grid.  Players need only to connect to the environment over VPN.  (Players' personal machines will not be in the line of fire, if you follow the rules...  ;-)

You can’t join and learn if you don’t send in the form!

The environment to host this CTF is currently undergoing active construction and will be laced with various surprises to keep the game interesting.  The networks that the Blue Teams must defend will be a mix of Windows and Linux, with the typical Internet services (web, DNS, mail, etc) and maybe more obscure systems and services.  

At the end, a winning team will be announced.

I'd like to ask each Joe applicant to please respond with a bit of information about yourself - your background, your level of experience, and your area of expertise.  This information will help us balance the teams to make for a fun and exciting game for all. It will help us and your team if you are brutally honest with your self-estimate, but don’t let imposter syndrome cause you to underestimate your experience and skills, either.  Try to be fair to yourself.  Don’t feel too intimidated to apply, you can’t join and learn if you don’t send in the form!

In the days and weeks ahead, should you be selected to play, you’ll be contacted by your Pro Captain and co-Captain.  As we get closer to the event, we'll refine the rules and I'll work with each of you to provision your VPN access to the CTF Network, so that you can become familiar with it.

We will not share your responses with anyone besides our Blue captains.

Lastly, if anyone has questions, comments, or suggestions, please don't hesitate to tweet me @dichotomy1.  We have a whole team building and running this CTF. We’re very open to new ideas, and think a group collaboration can only make this event better.


Thanks,
~dichotomy