CTF classes have started at MEPhI. The first organizational meeting showed that future fighters against cyber threats are ready to arm themselves with new knowledge.

Opening the meeting, Deputy Director of Institute of Cyber Intelligence Systems (ICIS) of the MEPhI Konstantin Kogos noted that the world of information security (IS) is large and exciting, but in our country there are still few high-quality IS specialists, and it is very important to choose a field that would be interesting for you while studying at the university engage, decide on the tasks that you would like to solve.

“10 years ago, just like you now, I sat in this audience and wondered who an information security specialist is. Now I have the answer to this question, I have experience in this field, and I can even share some life hacks with you. The main thing is don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Failures, bad grades, retakes force the brain to turn on. And be sure to communicate a lot - do joint projects, take part in competitions,” MEPhI graduate and teacher Denis Makrushin advised the students.

The main goal of the CTF club is to prepare precisely its participants for competitions. CTF means “capture the flag”. In CTF competitions, teams solve applied problems in the field of cybersecurity to obtain a flag - a unique sequence of characters that confirms that the participants actually hacked the system, found a vulnerability in the key generation algorithm, or completed some other task.

Cybersecurity competitions are not so much entertainment as they are learning, developing and honing practical skills.

CTF classes are held with the support of the Department of Cryptology and Cybersecurity and will be taught by students and graduates of the MEPhI, as well as employees of the digital risk management company BI.ZONE.

“Now I am doing reverse engineering. But when I entered my first year of university, I, in the language of bloggers, was “eating sand” - I didn’t understand anything at all. Thanks to the CTF competitions in which I participated for several years, I gained an understanding of what can be done in the field of cybersecurity, what I am interested in, and what I am good at. Participation in CTF competitions helped me, among other things, find an interesting job in a good company. CTF competitions will give you the skills to further engage in practical information security. And this is important. Because theoretical knowledge alone is not enough,” says MEPhI graduate, winner of the Atomskill professional skills competition in the “Information Security” competency, BI.ZONE employee Ilya Titov.