Sun* CTF 2019 Da Nang: Break The Norms - Be A Creator

This is the second time the competition is hosted in Da Nang, and no one can deny the fact that CTF 2019 is a breakthrough in terms of technology, topic as well as regulations. This year, CTF took place throughout 7 hours and 30 minutes with 3 challenging rounds: Capture the Flag, Game Logic and Code Contest. 

This year's competition is an upgrade from 2018, with the new and hip Viblo CTF and Viblo Code competing platform. The organizer said that there would be many new updates that will surely surprise those who had been to CTF 2018.

This year, the points in each round are not fixed, as they depend on the speed and number of teams with the solution, the more team can solve the issue, the smaller the points are. With this marking method, the points will be constantly changing. "At one moment we were having 1000 points, and within 30 minutes later, it dropped to only about 100 points, spooked" - team Beg recalled the shocking experience with the marking system of CTF 2019. 

“With this year's marking system, the competition is much more intense, alluring and unpredictable" - Mr. Nguyen Anh Tien, head of testing committee said.

In Capture the Flag, games went from easy to difficult, with unique questions with familiar features like the daily image of rapper Den Vau, to the T-Rex game we often play when there is no Internet connection, the sin-cos-tan from our days in school. Every features appear in the game with unique alteration. 

The Code Contest is considered the hardest "challenge" in this year's competition. "The topic was short, and it was in Vietnamese, but we still couldn't understand anything. Why is it so hard, even harder than university entrance exam." - Tran Thanh Tam, from team Golden Rice, smiled and whined. Despite all those grumbles, the challenges of Code Contest were still swiftly dealt with. 

Game Logic might be the most spectacular transformation of CTF 2019, as the organizer used the combat competition format. Apart from solving questions and navigating themselves in a Maze full of mysteries, contestants must survive the swarms of enemies to meet the NPC and bring back the valuable flag. To win Game Logic, contestants must have good analysis and navigation skills, along with strategic thinking in matrix game. 

“The NPC puzzles were fun, but "slaining" each other in the game was way much better. We were 'triggered' by an user, so we attacked and got our revenge. That is definitely the highlight of today" - Tran Hoang Tuan, leader of team From B. with Love recalled that day with joy.

With an hour left before the end, the competition heated up more than ever, as the team rushed towards victory. Rankings constantly changed. Time pressure plus increasing difficulty makes contestants as rushing as ever. 

Team Sun Moon Tribe overcame many difficulties and bursted with joy when successfully won the First prize of 5,000,000 VND. 4 developers from Unit 3 were said to have 'supreme' focus. This might be the reason why the Sun Moon Tribe had such a blast in the afternoon, despite the humble kick-off. Winning the flag in Game Logic as well as solving the difficult questions in Code Contest resulted in a convincing victory.

After that, Thai Doan Thanh was prized MVP, bringing whole joy to Sun Moon Tribe. 

Sun CTF 2019 was a great success. All contestants were all in awe with the fascination of this year's competition. See you again in next year's CTF with promising competition!

Let's take a look back at Sun* CTF 2019!