Defending The SOC, the first stage of the International CTF MetaRed '21 concluded with record participation in the exercise organized by the service managed by FCCN, the RCTS CERT.
From August 10th to 11th, the Defending The SOC event took place for 24 hours, organized by the computer security incident response service of the FCCN Unit of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), RCTS CERT.
THE online event consisted of 30 challenges of various categories, and had about 800 registrations, which resulted in the formation of 478 teams. Of the 372 that scored, 89% solved at least 3 challenges.
This Capture the Flag is included in the championship CTF International MetaRed '21, and which will feature 4 more stages organized by international MetaRed partners from Argentina, Mexico, Ecuador and back to Portugal.
The 30 challenges proposed by RCTS CERT were distributed across the categories of cryptography, forensic analysis, OSINT, networks, reverse engineering, pwn, web and mission. Of these, 9 were designed with a logical sequence, in the mission category, within the framework of an attack on a SOC (Security Operations Center) and consequent defensive and offensive reaction.

In the end, eight teams completed the 30 challenges, with first place going to a five-member team from Argentina (Cumbancha), which completed the exercises in eight hours and 37 minutes. The top Portuguese teams placed third, fourth, and seventh, respectively.
Player feedback at the event was very positive, and several participants highlighted the challenges in the mission category, which matched the event's theme.
Stage prizes will be awarded at the final awards ceremony.
The next MetaRed Capture The Flag competition will take place on October 21st.
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