To convince your HOD to host a CTF or set up a cyber lab, ask for a low-risk pilot instead of a big budget: one semester, run by your club with a faculty coordinator, starting on CTF7's Free plan at ₹0. Then show four things: what students gain, the exact cost, what IT has to do, and a dated plan.
Talk to CTF7 about a department pilot. Before you send the email, tell the CTF7 events team about your pilot and read the CTF platform for universities page that you can hand to faculty.
Key takeaways
- Pitch a pilot, not a program. A one-semester trial with a review at the end is much easier to approve than a permanent lab.
- Lead with outcomes, not hacking. Hands-on practice, placement-ready evidence and records for department reports matter more to faculty than the scoreboard.
- Make the cost a single line. Your first round on Free (₹0, up to 50 participants), one bigger event on Standard (₹9,999 per event, up to 500). A whole cohort may need Standard.
- Take the IT worry away early. Free and Standard are both hosted on CTF7: nothing to install, and the campus network is out of scope.
- Make it easy to say yes. Send a short email, ask for 15 minutes, and name the faculty coordinator you have in mind.
What your HOD needs to hear
Your HOD is weighing your idea against exams, accreditation work and a tight budget. Every new activity raises five unspoken questions:
- Does it help students? In ways that show up in placements, projects and reports.
- What does it cost? A number, not a range, and where the money comes from.
- What could go wrong? Especially with the word "hacking" in the proposal.
- Who does the work? Faculty time is the scarcest resource in the department.
- How will we know it worked? Something they can put in a file at the end of the semester.
The rest of this page answers each one. If your HOD is new to the idea, attach our explainer on what a CTF is so you don't spend the meeting on definitions.
Why a CTF program: outcomes in plain terms
Skip the jargon. Talk about what changes for students and the department:
- Hands-on practice that lectures can't give. A CTF challenge is a small puzzle or deliberately vulnerable system built for practice. Students learn web security, cryptography and forensics by doing the work. See the CTF categories for what each one teaches.
- Evidence for placements. Rankings, writeups and (on paid plans) event certificates give students something concrete to show recruiters. Some companies hire directly through skills-based hiring CTFs, and students who have played a few competitions walk into those rounds prepared.
- A visible department activity. A fest-week CTF open to other colleges puts the department's name and logo on a branded event page and a live scoreboard that every participant sees.
- Records you can use. The organizer dashboard and post-event analytics (solve trends, leaderboard insights) give you documented hands-on activity to attach to department reports or an accreditation file. The universities page covers how departments use them. CTF7 isn't affiliated with any accreditation body.
- A stronger club that outlives its seniors. Monthly rounds bring first-years in early. Register the organizer account to a faculty or department email so it doesn't leave with the founding batch.
Don't promise numbers you can't back. Avoid "this will improve placements by X%". Promise what you control: the number of rounds you'll run, the students you'll reach, and a short report at the end.
What it costs: Free vs Standard
Your first round runs at zero platform cost on the Free plan. You only need budget for the Standard events after it.
| Plan | Free | Standard |
|---|---|---|
| Price | ₹0 | ₹9,999 per event |
| Participants | Up to 50 | Up to 500 |
| Format | Jeopardy-style CTF | Jeopardy-style CTF |
| Flags | Static flags, attachments, external links | Static and dynamic flags, attachments, links, hints |
| Anti-cheat monitoring | Not included | Included |
| Challenge containers | No container labs | Bring-your-own Docker challenge images |
| Hosting | Hosted on CTF7, nothing to install | Hosted on CTF7, with custom branding |
| Best for | A first club round, orientation, one section or small selections | Fest-week events, inter-college CTFs, assessments |
More than 500 participants, full setup by our team and managed container deployment are on the Premium plan, priced to your event. Full details are on the pricing page.
A semester budget in one line
For the plan below, the platform line is ₹9,999 for the semester: the orientation round on Free, practice on open CTF7 events in between, and one Standard event in fest week. If you also want the end-of-semester assessment on Standard (dynamic flags, anti-cheat, a cohort above 50), add an optional second Standard event: ₹19,998 in total for two events. Even that may not come from the department: CTF7 supports fee collection for events, so an open event may be able to fund itself. As a hypothetical example, 100 teams paying a ₹150 entry fee would bring in ₹15,000; after CTF7's 10% platform fee on registration fees, that leaves ₹13,500, before payment-gateway charges. Plug in your own numbers with the CTF cost calculator, and see our college event playbook for a full line-item budget covering prizes, swag and food.
If your HOD wants a lab, not just events
Some departments would rather have a year-round cyber lab tied to coursework. That's what CTF7's organization plans are for. Organization Starter at ₹999 per month includes 2 events a month, 15 org members, 5 learning seats and learner certificates. Organization Pro at ₹4,999 per month adds 5 events a month, 50 members, 25 learning seats, private training content and labs, curriculum management and managed lab hosting. See a cybersecurity lab without servers for that route. The strongest pitch: run the events pilot first, then propose the lab at the semester review, backed by your results.
IT requirements: what to tell the IT team
IT usually asks the hardest questions, so answer them in writing first:
- Nothing to install on Free or Standard. Both are hosted on CTF7. No servers to run and nothing to maintain on college machines.
- Browser access is the baseline. Players register, read challenges, download files and submit flags in a web browser. Some categories go faster with common free tools on a laptop. Our CTF tools guide lists them.
- The campus network is out of scope. Players attack only the challenges provided for the event. Put that line in your event rules and link the code of conduct.
- On-campus rounds need a working connection, not special hardware. If you run a round in a college lab, ask IT to confirm the lab machines can reach the event site and that web filtering doesn't block it. Test from the lab a week before.
- A named IT contact for event day. One phone call that fixes a blocked port beats an hour of guesswork.
Mind the 50-participant cap on Free. A whole class or cohort may be larger, so plan a Standard event for anything above 50 or when marks are at stake. See the pricing page for the current plan details.
A one-semester CTF plan you can propose
HODs approve budgets line by line, so put the plan in the form they will file: what happens, who runs it, which plan and what it costs. Adjust the months to your academic calendar.
| When | What | Owner | Plan | Platform cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | Two-hour beginner orientation round for first- and second-years (share the beginners guide in advance) | Club | Free, up to 50 | ₹0 |
| Months 2–4 | Members play open events on CTF7 and post writeups after each, while seniors build the fest challenges (see how to create CTF challenges) | Club seniors | Free player accounts | ₹0 |
| Fest week | Open event for other colleges, with branding, registration fees and a live scoreboard (timeline in the college CTF playbook) | Club + faculty coordinator | Standard, up to 500 | ₹9,999 |
| End of semester | Timed practical round, then a one-page review to the HOD: rounds run, participation, results, feedback | Faculty coordinator | Standard, optional | ₹9,999 |
| Semester total | One Standard event, or two if the assessment needs Standard | ₹9,999 or ₹19,998 | ||
This is the student-pilot version. A faculty-led, syllabus-aligned lab plan is on the universities page. Either way, your HOD sees the full cost on day one.
Copyable email template to your HOD
Replace everything in [square brackets], cut anything that doesn't apply, and send it from your college email ID. Copy the faculty coordinator you have in mind, after asking them first.
Subject: Proposal: one-semester CTF pilot for [Department name]
Dear [Prof./Dr. HOD name],
I am [your name] from [year, branch], writing on behalf of [club name / a group of N students]. We would like to propose a one-semester pilot of Capture the Flag (CTF) cybersecurity exercises for the department, with [faculty name] as faculty coordinator, subject to their agreement.
What it is: CTFs are hands-on security challenges. Students solve problems on deliberately vulnerable practice systems built for the event. Only the event's challenges are in scope; the college network is not.
Why it helps:
- Practical skills in web security, cryptography and forensics
- Rankings and results students can show recruiters
- Post-event analytics for department reports
Plan for [semester]:
- [Month]: orientation CTF for first- and second-years
- [Months]: practice on open CTF7 events, with writeups
- [Fest name / date]: an open event for other colleges
- [Month]: a timed practical round and a short review report
Cost: The orientation round uses CTF7's Free plan (₹0, up to 50 participants). The fest event uses the Standard plan at ₹9,999 per event (up to 500 participants), which we propose to fund through [registration fees / sponsorship / department budget]. Free is capped at 50 participants, so if the whole cohort plays together we would use Standard. If you approve a second Standard event for the end-of-semester assessment, the total platform cost is ₹19,998 for the semester.
IT: Students need a laptop and a browser. Both the Free and Standard plans are hosted on CTF7, so nothing is installed on college servers or machines.
What we are asking for:
1. Approval to run the pilot
2. [Lab name] on [dates] for on-campus rounds
3. A faculty coordinator
At the end of the semester we will share a one-page report on participation, results and student feedback.
Could I have 15 minutes on [day/date] to walk you through it?
Thank you,
[Your name]
[Roll number, year, branch]
[Phone] | [College email]Keep the email short and bring a printout of the semester plan and the pricing page to the meeting. To show real events, open the CTF7 events page.
Make the meeting count
- Line up the faculty coordinator before you send. A faculty member who already agrees is the strongest thing you can bring to the HOD's office.
- Have the team named. Three to five students with clear roles: challenges, operations, outreach. Our guide on building a CTF team helps you recruit them.
- Get help when you need it. Students active in fests and clubs can join the Campus Ambassador program (free access to CTFs and hackathons, swag, a certificate and letter of recommendation, and internship opportunities). Custom challenge development covers the hard challenges your club can't write yet.
For institution-level features and a fest timeline, point faculty to our universities page. Clubs running community events should read CTF7 for student clubs.
