Beyond the books: Success stories from Ecole 2600 students

Their story

After competing against more than 6,600 players from 94 countries around the world and securing a top-three finish in the 2023 Hack The Box (HTB) Brains & Bytes University CTF, we had a chance to talk with two Ecole 2600 students to discover the keys to their CTF and cybersecurity success.

Located in Montigny le Bretonneux, France, Ecole 2600 is breaking the mold of traditional education methods used by universities around the world by placing an emphasis on equipping students with the precise skills and knowledge needed for their post-graduation career path.

As a work-study university focused solely on cybersecurity education, Ecole 2600 combines classroom theory with job-based skill development while giving students the opportunity to work alongside expert professionals dedicated to teaching them how to apply their skills in a business setting.

Their goal

Rayan Bouyaiche, an Ecole 2600 student graduating in 2025, and Nathan Garnier, an Ecole 2600 student graduating in 2026 were just getting started in cybersecurity and learning about the many career opportunities available when they found HTB.

“In France, HTB isn’t very well-known yet so when I was starting to learn cybersecurity on my own, I tried some other platforms at first,” Rayan said. “But after I saw videos of 0xdf, John Hammond, and IppSec on YouTube talking about Hack The Box, I signed up and began using the Labs, which helped give me the skills to participate in events like Hack The Boo and University CTF.”

Soon after participating in their first CTF events, Rayan and Nathan knew they had unlocked a new passion that was not only fun, but beneficial to their education as well.

“When you start a challenge on the platform, you know you’re going to enjoy it,” said Nathan. “The CTFs allow you to be competitive while you learn and work, so it’s really motivating. Just like high-level sports, you’re always trying to get better than people you know.”

Their solution

While pursuing their goal of a career in cybersecurity, they began their studies at Ecole 2600 as well as their first jobs in cyber.

“It’s easier to find a job when you have experience, and because we’re still students, it was really hard trying to build that professional experience. But with Professional Labs and the CTF competitions HTB hosts, I was able to show my skills, which helped me get a job,” Rayan mentioned.

After accepting a job as a Junior Penetration Tester at Hackcyom, Rayan was able to immediately begin applying what he was learning through HTB.

“I use the same technology at work as I do when I’m working on Labs with HTB, so it really helps teach me how to do my job,” he said. “If I’m doing HTB at work, I take notes to improve our methodology. For example, if I do a box about web pentesting, I use that information to improve our processes and share it with my teammates.”

For Nathan, using HTB also allowed him to enhance his skills and immediately add value to his team at ON-X Groupe where he works as a penetration tester.

“At work, we need to improve ourselves to be able to get better jobs and go farther in our careers,” he mentioned. “HTB is a great platform because it covers a lot of different topics that are related to your job, so you can discover new ways of doing things or new vulnerabilities and improve the work you’re doing.”

Their success

In addition to developing key job-related skills, such as improving their ability to identify emerging threats and prepare tactical responses which has allowed them to achieve success inside and outside the classroom, Rayan and Nathan have found some other unexpected benefits while using the HTB platform and participating in CTF competitions.

“It’s really cool to see students get involved in their own time,” Nathan said. “Having a platform that we can all work on, by ourselves and as a group, makes it so much easier to talk to people and ask for help. You always know you can go up to someone and they’ll be willing to help you.”

And after being welcomed into the HTB community and becoming part of several online groups, Rayan decided to use his experiences to help others.

“When I was first starting out, I would go on Discord and Twitter to see the advice other people were giving to help get through certain Challenges or Labs. Now, when I see posts from people that are stuck, I reach out and help them work through the exercise to get them unstuck,” said Rayan.

Their advice

When asked what advice he’d give to other students looking to explore a career in cybersecurity, Rayan reflected on one of his best HTB experiences.

“When I managed to complete my first Pro Lab, it was my first really big accomplishment in cybersecurity. I was proud of myself for achieving something like that,” he said. “While working through it, I learned the cybersecurity world is very big and we need to improve ourselves every day and learn every day. You can’t be afraid to ask people for advice and there will always be someone to answer your questions.”

Nathan also took the opportunity to share one of his most memorable HTB moments and the lesson he learned from it.

“During a recent CTF, my team and I spent almost 24 hours working on one challenge. When we finally solved it, it was like we won the World Cup,” he said. “That experience taught me that it’s important to just keep going and even if you fail, you’re always learning. There’s so many people in cybersecurity who love what they do, and there’s a lot we can learn from each other if we all work together.”

At Hack The Box, we love our global hacking community and we strive to support other communities all over the world as we continue working toward our mission to make cybersecurity training accessible to everyone - and we’d love to do the same for you. Get in touch today to see how we can help.

Products used

Dedicated Labs

• Allow students to learn beyond classroom premises with cloud-based labs available 24/7.

• Further develop theoretical concepts by focusing on specific attack types and threat vectors in a practical setting.

• Create your own isolated VPN environment complete with leaderboards, user progress monitoring and an easy-to-use admin panel.

Professional Labs

• Assess the performance, skills, and effectiveness of cyber teams against industry standards or best practices.

• Improve workforce skills with advanced enterprise infrastructure activities inspired by the latest TTPs and technologies.

• Conduct risk-free real-world exercises and practice penetration testing techniques to improve response to emerging threats.

About Hack The Box

HTB helps hundreds of educational institutions around the world integrate hands-on exercises and threat-connected content into their curriculum while engaging with cybersecurity students all from a single platform, and we’d love to do the same for you. Get in touch today to see how we can help.