HTB Business CTF 2023: A recap of The Great Escape

For Hack The Box’s third annual Business CTF, we decided to kick things up a notch with this year’s challenges and theme, and as always, our community blew us away! We couldn’t be more honored to have had participants from around the world join us for three days of hacking and fun.

Last year, you all helped us break records with the number of players, flags captured, and teams registered, and we’re thrilled to share that even more records were broken this year! We were fortunate enough to have 982 teams and 5,117 players from around the world sign up for their chance to claim a top spot on the leaderboard along with some pretty amazing HTB prizes.

A small achievement but anyway one that excited me a lot was to participate in the CTF of Hack The Box. In the future, I would like to be able to involve my company's team more and be able to separate more time so that events like this can be taken advantage of, since I have left very happy and fascinated with what can be learned in a practical way with exercises prepared by professionals in the field.

 

I really appreciate the initiative of the team behind the event and I can't wait for them to launch more events like this.

 

Daniel Núñez Robinson, Cyber Response & Digital Forensics at EY

Escaping the planet to save humanity 🚀

This year’s theme transported players more than 200 years into the future to a planet where only the strong could survive. Natural materials and power sources were no longer available after years of war and devastation, leaving the nations with only one thing to do—find an alternative.

But once scientists discovered Vitalium, a new power source, on the surface of Mars, the race was on.

Players from corporate teams around the world joined forces as the United Nations of Zenium to establish a democratic colony on the red planet and heal humanity. The quest was made even more difficult by the Board of Arodor, a troublesome group with the idea that only the wealthy should prevail.

Defeating the Board was going to be no easy task, and involved players completing more than 30 challenges focused on forensics, crypto, reversing, and more. Although our theme was out of this world and set hundreds of years in the future, each challenge featured realistic scenarios, hands-on activities, and top-notch hacking content for players to enjoy.

The winners 👏

We wouldn’t be where we are today if not for the unwavering support of our community, so to everyone who participated in this year’s Business CTF, we thank you for your trust and passion for cybersecurity!

Excited to announce that our team secured the 117th position in the recent Capture the Flag (CTF) competition! It was an exhilarating experience, and I'm proud of our collective efforts and dedication. Our teamwork, problem-solving skills, and passion for cybersecurity helped us achieve this milestone. Thank you to everyone involved, and looking forward to more challenges ahead!

 

Mohammed Athif, Certified Ethical Hacker

While we were thrilled to have so many players join us in the Great Escape, only one team could claim the top spot on this year’s leaderboard.

• First Place—Imporsec.

• Second Place—Synactiv.

• Third Place—Challenge The Cyber.

It was a hard-fought battle between our top teams and we can’t wait to see if Imporsec will defend their title next year, or if a new Business CTF champion will be crowned.

The prizes 💰

They say money isn’t everything, but it certainly helps raise the stakes for our CTF participants! With prizes valued at more than $50,000 on the line, it was a battle to get to the top and be able to take home gift cards, free lab access, certification vouchers, and our limited-edition trophy.

• First place: Improsec claimed this year’s exclusive Business CTF trophy, six months of free access to BlackSky Cloud Labs, and $100 gift cards for the HTB swag store for each team member!

• Second place: All members of Synactiv took home a free HTB Certified Penetration Testing Specialist certification voucher along with $50 gift cards for the HTB swag store!

• Third place: Challenge The Cyber won six months of free access to HTB Dedicated Labs in addition to a $25 HTB swag store gift card!

The sponsors 💚

Without the support of our incredible sponsors, events like these wouldn’t be possible. We’d like to express a sincere thank you to our diamond sponsor, SNYK, and our Base sponsor, ExpressVPN for continuing to help bring the Business CTF to life.

The stats

Our Great Escape theme had no shortage of excitement, and our players worked hard over two days to solve challenges and claim the top spots on our leaderboard. Here's a closer look at this year’s results:

• 5,117 players participated in our friendly competition.

• 5,502 flags were submitted.

• 982 corporate teams joined.

• 90 countries were represented.

• 32 challenges across eight categories.

• 450 certificates were awarded.

• 387 CPEs were earned.

• $50,000 in prizes for our winners!

Before concluding our recap, we want to give a special shout-out to every member of the Hack The Box team who contributed to the Business CTF in any way. We’re incredibly fortunate to work with the best and most talented group of individuals the cybersecurity industry has ever seen. From our content creators and designers to our community, marketing, and product teams, our success is all because of you!

The socials

Take a look back at our pre-business CTF talks

The competition may be over, but we still want you to be able to enjoy all the action! Watch our pre-event hacking workshops where we were joined by several members of the HTB team as well as a few special guests!

Want to host your own CTF? 

Whether you want to brush up on your skills for the next business CTF or incorporate gamified learning into your team’s development plan, learn how you can build your own CTF with Hack The Box.

For additional hands-on resources to help your team test security processes, improve incident response, or quickly address vulnerabilities, take a look at how HTB Dedicated Labs, Professional Labs, and Cloud Labs can assist.

And for those interested in combining theory and practice, our browser-based HTB Academy Modules feature diverse content for all skills levels as well as guided paths, unlimited content, and progress reporting.

Author bio: ReAnn Molinas, B2B Marketing Specialist, Hack The Box. ReAnn has worked in marketing and content creation for more than seven years. She entered the cybersecurity industry in 2021 and has driven brand awareness through a vast portfolio of content, including blogs, emails, web pages, and more. In addition, she has developed material for major projects including product launches, keynote events, and large promotional campaigns while continuing to produce meaningful content to help grow the careers of cybersecurity professionals around the world. Feel free to connect with her on LinkedIn.