Get ready! Season II is about to start (with some improvements)

Hack The Box (HTB) Seasons started with a bang! 

Back when the seasonal format was announced, we refreshed our ranking system to crank up the competitive element of HTB and engage all platform members with rewards and prizes for different Tiers. 

This is, of course, a work in progress. Still, we are excited to share that our team is already incorporating community feedback to improve the HTB Seasons experience for Season II (some improvements are being shipped as we speak!). We’ve also been overjoyed with the strong positive response from our aspiring hackers during the last 13 weeks. Great job to all participants!

 

It goes without saying that we want to keep the engagement and excitement high for all of you! Let’s look at the official ranking of Season I, news about the kick-off of Season II, and some cool improvements to the overall seasonal experience.

Wrapping up Season I: the final ranking

Before getting into the details of the upcoming season, a big celebration for those who nailed the first iteration of the new seasonal mode! 

The entire community, HTB staff included, enjoyed this awesome competition until the very last flag to see who has the hottest hacking skills around. So without further ado, we are glad to announce the first podium in the history of HTB Seasons:

🏅 szymex73

🥈 snowscan

🥉 Ziemni

 

While the overall top three might not be a huge surprise, the new seasonal competition gives all 5,976 participants an equal playing field to score points and rank up in Tiers. 

Every one of the new Hack The Box seasonal Machines has been brilliant.I have an upcoming industry certification exam, and these have complemented the material so well. They also took some of the topics that I was already pretty confident into the next level, such as local file inclusion. Having the Tiers and rewards has really pushed me to complete all the Machines too—these have been my first “Insane” difficulty Machines, and all thanks to the extra incentive!

whitewale, Holo Tier

More than a competition against others, HTB Seasons can become an entertaining way to challenge your own skills: players only need two flags to rank up from Bronze to Silver and unlock the first rewards! 

Let’s give it up to all players ranking up:

• 249 players reaching Holo

• 268 players reaching Platinum

• 451 players reaching Ruby

• 1,948 players reaching Silver

 

Season II: Hackers’ Clash

HERE. WE. GO!

Season II is about to get started, and you better be ready for it! Will the current scoreboard leaders maintain their reign and top spots? Or will new hacking prodigies arise to dethrone them?

Stay tuned for the first Machine on June 17th to have a shot at claiming the hacking glory (and the prizes that come with it) or setting a new personal best. The sky is the limit!

Season II - Hackers’ Clash will officially kick off on June 17th and run until September 9th, 2023, to include 13 Machines released each Saturday at 19:00 UTC. As mentioned, Points and Tiers from the previous season will reset, and everyone will start at zero. 

 

Improvements

The HTB team has been working on various fixes and small features to make the experience of all players better. The entire community has been of great help by filling out our feedback forms and never holding back from giving suggestions on all our channels, especially on Discord.

 

Achievement Badges

Every player will now be awarded HTB Seasons badges. You can find our badges directly on your user profile in the “Badges” section by scrolling down to Seasonal Badges. 

These badges will be awarded for every season as soon as players rank up a Tier. For example, if your final Tier is Platinum, you will have unlocked Bronze, Silver, and Ruby badges on the way. In addition, they won’t reset by the end of the season, a new set of badges will be created instead. Will you get them all?

 

Seasonal Time

Based on lots of feedback from the community, we have decided to keep the one (1) week of time to complete a seasonal Machine. This looks like a sweet spot for everyone, and the majority of our platform members voted for this option. 

So, remember that if you are looking to rank up during the season, you will need to complete the Machine within one week after its release! 

 

Prizes adjustment

We have made some slight changes regarding the rewards for each Tier and the overall leaderboard. Prizes have been adjusted to make sure they are coherent with the rank progression, and every higher rank will be rewarded with a higher monetary value. 

Take a look at the new list and get ready to unlock them!