- AEST
The network went dark. Now, the signal is back.
Exactly one year after the catastrophic day that wiped the Quantum Nexus Network into silence, sensors have detected a power surge from the derelict Kuiper Belt Relay. As an elite freelance operator, your terminal has reconnected to the newly broadcasting Nexus signal. Old factions are scrambling to seize control of the infrastructure. Challengers, infiltrate the rebooting nodes, bypass the security, and extract flags across critical sectors before it is too late!
Challenges feature dynamic scoring across four difficulty tiers:
Categories:
Anyone globally is welcome to play for fun (and for a CTFTime ranking), but only Australian tertiary students are eligible for prizes. Eligibility will be verified by all team members using their .edu.au email address.
University of Sydney students who require professional engagement program (PEP) hours must participate using their student email address.
Registration will be open very soon. For now, join our Discord server to stay updated.
All times are in Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) unless otherwise stated.
The CTF itself is online, but opening/closing ceremonies will be conducted in-person and livestreamed for online participants.
Only Australian tertiary students with a verified .edu.au email address are eligible for prizes.
Public participants using personal email addresses may participate on the Open scoreboard for CTFtime points, but will not be eligible for prizes.
University of Sydney Engineering students who want PEP hours, can claim PEP hours for their participation. The exact amount is still being finalised. You must register using your @uni.sydney.edu.au email and submit at least 12 flags for your team during the competition. We will collect your SID after the event.
AI tools (ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, etc.) are discouraged, but not prohibited (we want you to learn!). However, your team must be able to explain any of your solves. Winning teams in all prize-eligible tiers must complete a mandatory technical interview before the closing ceremony, where organisers will randomly select solved challenges and ask team members to explain their methodology.
Failure to explain a solution or attend the interview will disqualify the team from the podium and prizes.
Yes! We are hosting a pre-CTF tutorial on Friday 25 September 2026. Further details will be coming soon.
Teams may consist of 1 to 4 players. You are welcome to play solo.
Join the official Cybersecurity Society Sydney Discord. All official announcements, updates, general chat, and hint drops will occur there. For broken containers or platform bugs, open a ticket in the provided space.