Opportunity brief
Capture the Flag - Operation: Zero Trace
A live cyber-operations mission, not just a quiz.
Eligibility:
- Open to college students.
- Participation is in teams of 3–5 members.
- Teams compete as Cyber Response Units to recover hidden flags across multiple cybersecurity sectors.
Format:
The competition covers five sectors:
- Crypto Vault
- Web Gateway
- Linux Core
- Hidden Signal
- Database Breach
- Challenges cover cryptography, web security, Linux/command-line tasks, steganography, and SQL. - Teams race to recover flags before the network locks down. - A live scoreboard is used to track team progress, including "First Blood" moments. - The event is designed as a practical cyber-operations challenge rather than a conventional quiz.
Date & Time:
- 12th September 2026
- 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM
Venue:
Computer Lab (F-201)
Chandigarh (Mohali Region), Punjab
Registration:
- Team size: 3–5 members
- Capacity: 60 participants
- Registration fee: ₹150 per team
- Registrations close 2–3 days before the fest, on or around 9th–10th September 2026.
Prizes:
- ₹6,000 total cash prize pool
- Certificates for winners
- Participation certificates for all
Rules:
- Each team must consist of 3–5 members.
- Teams must complete the assigned cybersecurity challenges and recover the required flags.
- Participants are expected to work within the designated challenge environment.
- Teams will be evaluated based on successful flag recovery and their performance during the competition.
- The live scoreboard will be used to track progress.
- Participants must follow the instructions provided by the event organisers.
- Any misconduct or violation of the event instructions may result in disqualification.