Tag Archive for: RunCode

RunCode challenge returns with coding, pwning puzzles—and prizes

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Capture the flag with your code in the RunCode challenge this weekend.

Enlarge / Capture the flag with your code in the RunCode challenge this weekend. (credit: Getty Images)

It’s Veterans Day weekend again, which means it’s time for the return of RunCode, an annual capture-the-flag-style programming and information security competition run by a non-profit group formed by a collection of volunteers (many of them with day jobs in the military) three years ago.

Originally a straight coding competition that supported multiple languages, RunCode evolved last year toward more of a security focus—though its challenges still involve writing code to overcome the puzzles. Points are accumulated with the completion of each challenge, based on its level of difficulty. Currently, the contest features 17 “easy,” nine “intermediate,” and three “hard” challenges. The tasks include challenges in networking, math, encryption, forensics, “pwning,” reverse-engineering, and Web hacking, among others.

The prizes include a one-year subscription to the penetration testing training site Hack the Box, a Wi-Fi Pineapple Nano from Hak5, a 4-gigabyte Raspberry Pi 4, a RTL software-defined radio kit, and a WarCollar Industries DopeScope 2.0 Wi-Fi hunting tool (very useful for finding Wi-Fi hotspots and catching the “fox” during wireless challenges at hacker cons). Depending on participation, more prizes may be added, according to event organizers.

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica

Get your code in RunCode, the online programming and pwning extravaganza

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Want to flex your coding and hacking skills but can't get to a con? RunCode is for you.

Enlarge / Want to flex your coding and hacking skills but can’t get to a con? RunCode is for you. (credit: Nate Grigg)

Last year, a group of dedicated volunteers launched Codewarz, an online coding “capture the flag” (CTF) contest originally developed as an on-site competition for colleges and training events. Paid for entirely out of their own pockets, the competition included 24 challenges—challenges that could be taken on in one of 14 supported programming and scripting languages. There were more than 1,000 participants in last year’s event, with only one completing all the challenges.

The team behind Codewarz has continued to do onsite events, including a Python workshop held at BSides Augusta this year focused on tackling CTF-style problems. But the open competition is back this weekend—bigger, better, and with a whole new domain. Re-dubbed RunCode, the contest is now backed by a newly formed nonprofit funded by sponsors.

That sponsorship has made it possible to scale the event up—RunCode will have 180 coding challenges, including security-focused ones. And now there are prizes for top competitors, including an Intel NUC kit, Raspberry Pi and Arduino kits, and a one-year VIP subscription to the Hack The Box penetration testing lab.

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Biz & IT – Ars Technica