Tyler Nighswander, Researcher, ForAllSecure
The world of competitive hacking can be a strange and confusing place. However, the growing importance of cybersecurity and need for professionals with hands-on experience make these exercises relevant for students, experts, and recruiters. We will discuss competitive hacking in the form of Capture the Flag contests with an emphasis on how to build an effective team, based on Carnegie Mellon's Plaid Parliament of Pwning. With this guidance, we hope to make participating in CTFs more fun and friendly for everyone.
Tyler Nighswander has been a computer hacker for several years. While an undergraduate student at Carnegie Mellon University, Tyler was one of the initial members of the competitive hacking team called the Plaid Parliament of Pwning. This team rose from a small group of students to the number one competitive hacking team in the world. After traveling around the world to compete in hacking competitions, Tyler settled now works on getting humans and computers to think more like hackers.
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