The CyberBay Cup 2026

We are excited to announce that SkillBit (formerly MetaCTF) will be running a cybersecurity Capture the Flag (“CTF”) competition at the CyberBay 2026 conference in Tampa, FL this March.

Event Overview:

  • WHAT: CyberBay 2026 Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.
  • WHEN: March 12th, 2026 (2nd day of the conference)
  • WHERE: Ballroom of the JW Marriott Tampa Water Street hotel
  • WHO: Open to all CyberBay 2026 conference attendees; no pre-qualification required. Physical presence at the conference is required. No remote teammates allowed. Competitors will need to bring their own laptops.
  • TEAM SIZE: Up to 4 team members.
  • FORMAT: 50% of the score will come from the Jeopardy-style CTF portion, covering standard categories, including: reverse engineering, pwn, web exploitation, forensics, crypto, OSINT, and more. Practice at https://mctf.io/practice. The competition will also include an Attack/Defense CTF component as well, which will account for the other 50% of the score. The Jeopardy-style and the Attack/Defense CTF portions will run concurrently.

PRIZES:

  • CASH PRIZES: Significant payouts for the top 5 teams: $20,000, $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, and $2,500. Winners must be able to provide a completed Form W-9 and will be expected to pay all relevant taxes.

TRAVEL DETAILS:

We will be sponsoring several teams to travel to the conference:

JANUARY 22 (5PM – 8PM ET) – MetaCTF JANUARY 2026 FLASH CTF

  • Sign up at https://mctf.io/jan2026
  • A jeopardy-style CTF with 5+ CTF challenges.
  • Unlimited team size, but only up to 5 individuals from the winning CTF team will be sponsored to travel. Only participants in the US will be eligible. At least 3 people on the travelling team must have accessed the platform during the competition.
  • Top 3 eligible teams will be sponsored to travel.
  • Up to one team per organization/CTF team will be sponsored.
  • If a team is suspected of working with another team or cheating, they will be disqualified. Please pick your teammates carefully.
  • Winning teams may not select individuals from another participating team to travel with them.
  • The winning team of the CyberBay Cup 2025 will be invited back.
  • Additional select teams may be invited.

Travel reimbursement details:

  • Each eligible group may send up to 5 people to the conference (for example 4 competitors + coach). Team size is limited to 4 individuals.
  • Each team will receive up to 3 hotel rooms. Incidental expenses are not covered.
  • Each team will also receive up to $500 travel reimbursement per traveler.
  • Each sponsored team member has to be 18+ and in the US. Individual team members or the supporting student organizations must be able to provide a completed Form W-9 and will be expected to pay all relevant taxes.
  • Reimbursements will be sent after each competitor arrives at the conference and participates in the CTF. On a case-by-case basis, teams may be eligible to receive the travel reimbursement upfront.
  • For questions regarding the competition or the rules, please reach out to support@metactf.com

THE FINE PRINT

By entering and/or accepting a prize in the Competition, you agree that Cyber Florida, USF, USF’s Board of Trustees, the Florida Board of Governors, the State of Florida, MetaCTF, Bellini Family Limited Partnership or any of its subsidiaries, any social media platform on which this Competition is promoted or mentioned, any other company involved in the development or administration of this Competition, and a range of subsidiaries, agencies, affiliates, franchisees, promoters, prize suppliers, directors, officers, employees, agents and related persons (collectively, the “Released Parties”): (a) are not responsible for technical failures of any kind, including but not limited to lost, disconnected, interrupted, or unavailable network, server, or other connections, late, lost, undeliverable, damaged or stolen mail, or for any failed telephone or computer hardware or software, or for any failed, delayed, misdirected, corrupted, or garbled transmissions or errors of any kind, whether human, mechanical, or electronic, or for entries that for any reason are not properly submitted or received by Cyber Florida by any deadline stated above; (b) are not responsible for any incorrect or inaccurate information, whether caused by entrants or other participants, printing, typographical or other errors or by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized in the Competition or in the printing of this offer, administration of this Competition, or in the selection or announcement of the winners or prizes; (c) are not responsible for any injury or damage to any computer, modem or other electrical device as a result of participation in this Competition or downloading of any software or materials; (d) are not responsible for unauthorized human intervention in any part of the Competition; (e) are not responsible for any unauthorized third party use of any entry materials (including any Comments); (f) are not responsible for the inability to select winners because of postal failure, equipment failure, or data storage failure; and (g) are not responsible for any printing, typographical, technical, computer, network or human error that may occur in the administration of the Competition, the acceptance of entries, the selection of winners, the prizes or otherwise in any Competition-related materials.