A NERD DOGMA: Introducing CTF to Non-expert Audience

Abstract

Capture the flag (CTF) events challenge the skills of security experts. Although CTF are competitive events rewarding the winners with prizes and glory, their ultimate goal is to strengthen the competences of the participants. For this reason, they should attract new participants even among beginners. Nevertheless, CTF are often regarded as if they were exclusively for the security specialists. In this paper we introduce A NERD DOGMA as a CTF appetizer. Briefly, A NERD DOGMA is an entry-level CTF combined with an escape room game. The game was implemented as both an on-site facility and an online web application. Here, we describe the two implementations as well as two experiments, one of which carried out during the COVID-19 lockdown. We also discuss the preliminary results and the activities planned after these experiments.