CTF7 Glossary

CTF (Capture the Flag)

A hands-on cybersecurity competition where individuals or teams solve technical challenges and submit flags to earn points. CTFs are widely used for training, community learning, and talent development.

Flag

The proof that a challenge has been solved, usually a formatted string such as CTF7{This_Is_A_Flag_Example}. A valid flag is submitted to receive credit for the challenge.

Challenge

A self-contained task that tests a specific skill, concept, or attack path. A challenge usually includes a prompt, supporting files or targets, a scoring value, and a flag.

Challenge Categories

Categories group challenges by skill area. Common CTF categories include:

• Binary Exploitation (Pwn): Finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in compiled programs.
• Reverse Engineering: Analyzing binaries or applications to understand behavior, logic, or hidden functionality without source code.
• Web Exploitation: Identifying and exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications and APIs.
• Cryptography: Solving problems involving ciphers, encoding, encryption, protocols, or flawed implementations.
• Forensics: Investigating files, logs, network captures, memory dumps, or other digital evidence.
• OSINT: Using open-source information to discover people, infrastructure, leaked data, or hidden clues.
• Miscellaneous: Puzzle, scripting, or cross-discipline challenges that do not fit neatly into one category.

Solver

A participant or team that successfully submits a valid flag for a challenge.

Scoreboard

A general term for the ranking view that shows points, solves, and placement during or after an event.

Jeopardy-Style CTF

The most common CTF format, where teams choose from a published set of challenges and solve them in any order. Scoring may use fixed or dynamic point values.

Attack/Defense CTF

A more advanced format where teams defend their own services while attacking opponents' services to steal or submit flags.

Hint

Optional guidance from organizers to help participants make progress on a challenge. Depending on event rules, using a hint may reduce points or simply provide direction.

Write-Up

A post-event explanation that documents the solving process, tools, reasoning, and lessons learned for a challenge. Good write-ups help others study techniques responsibly.

Bug Bounty

A security program where researchers report real vulnerabilities to an organization under a defined scope, disclosure process, and reward policy. Unlike a CTF, bug bounty work targets live systems only with explicit authorization.

Raw Ops

An anti-CTF bug hunting format where participants do not submit flags. Instead, they investigate a realistic target, submit vulnerability reports, and receive scores after triage using CVSS 4.0. Raw Ops encourages creative approaches, including chaining multiple weaknesses, and complements traditional CTF formats while remaining distinct from puzzle-based competition.

Platform

CTF7 as a whole, including the public site, event pages, organizer tools, challenge delivery, and scoring features used to run cybersecurity competitions and related programs.

Organizer

A person, team, school, company, or community group responsible for creating an event, publishing content, managing rules, and monitoring participant activity.

Participant

A registered user who joins an event to learn, compete, or collaborate. Depending on the format, participants may compete individually or as part of a team.

Team

A group of participants competing under a shared name and score. Team size, eligibility, and collaboration rules are defined by the event organizer.

Dashboard

The signed-in area where users manage account details, review joined events, and access available workflows or updates relevant to them.

Event Page

The central page for a specific event, typically containing the overview, schedule, rules, registration details, announcements, and links to competition areas.

CTF Room

The competition workspace where participants access challenge statements, downloads, hints, submissions, and scoring during an active event.

Lab

A guided, hands-on exercise or practice environment designed to teach a skill, workflow, or security concept outside a competitive setting.

Announcements

Updates published by organizers to communicate schedule changes, clarifications, reminders, or important event instructions.

Leaderboard

The official ranking view on CTF7, showing how participants or teams place based on points and, where applicable, solve timing or tie-break rules.

Event Host

The organization or brand behind a specific event. The host defines the event's purpose, audience, and policies, while designated organizers handle day-to-day setup and operations on the platform.

Hackathon

A time-boxed build event where participants create prototypes, products, or experiments, often in teams. Some hackathons emphasize innovation, while others focus on security, learning, or developer tools.

Tech Event

A broad term for organized activities such as CTFs, workshops, webinars, conferences, meetups, and hackathons.

Sponsor

An organization that supports an event through funding, prizes, infrastructure, mentorship, or promotional help.

Keynote Speaker

A featured expert invited to set the theme of an event or share high-level insight in a main session.

Repository (Repo)

A version-controlled location for code, documentation, and change history, commonly hosted on platforms such as GitHub or GitLab.

Open Source

Software released under a license that allows others to inspect, use, modify, and often redistribute its source code.

API (Application Programming Interface)

A documented interface that allows one application or service to exchange data or trigger actions in another system.