Insights: Article

WACTF helps unearth WA’s best hackers

Last night’s WA Capture the Flag (WACTF) Awards and Networking night at SpaceCubed, was the culmination and celebration of the weekend’s community-run Capture The Flag challenge, held at the University of Western Australia – and we couldn’t be a prouder sponsor!

WA Capture the Flag (WACTF)

The two-day event saw some of Perth’s best hacking talent compete over a series of increasingly difficult technical challenges, developed by some of Australia’s best cyber security experts. Ridge Racer claimed the top prize – a trip to attend BSides in Canberra in 2018, as well as a handy $250 DigitalOcean card. Congratulations Ridge!

The event, attended by AustCyber Chief Operation Officer Michelle Price and OGCIO Chief Technology Officer Andrew Cann, welcomed 95 competitors, ranging from high school and university students to longstanding members of the IT industry.

RELATED CONTENT: Kinetic IT returns as sponsor for WA Capture the Flag

Finding Perth’s emerging cyber security talent

According to WACTF organisers, the core aims of the competition were to bring together Perth’s existing cyber security industry, as well as to entice emerging cyber security talent into the business community.

Spokesman, Hivint’s Aaron Doggett, said, “We see too much good talent leaving WA due to an overall low level of awareness of the need for cyber-security related skills, or the inability for entities to find the right talent.”

Kinetic IT’s Kevin O’Sullivan added, “With the success of this inaugural event, the WA cyber security community can only continue to strengthen and build – we can’t wait to be part of whatever comes next.”

RELATED CONTENT: WACTF closes out 2020 in style