CyberBay 2025 Capture-the-Flag

We are excited to announce that our team will be running a cybersecurity competition at the CyberBay 2025 (https://cyberbay.org/) conference in Tampa, FL this October!

Event Overview:

  • What: CyberBay 2025 Capture the Flag (CTF) competition.
  • When & Where: October 15th (final day of CyberBay 2025 conference) in Tampa, FL.
  • Format: Jeopardy-style CTF, covering standard categories (reverse engineering, pwn, web exploitation, forensics, crypto, OSINT, miscellaneous). Practice at https://mctf.io/practice. The competition will include a King of the Hill (KotH) component as well.

Prizes & Eligibility:

  • Cash Prizes: Significant payouts for the top 5 teams: $10,000, $5,000, $2,500, $1,000, and $500. The top-ranked student team is guaranteed a minimum of $5,000.
  • Team Size: Up to 4 members.
  • Participation: Open to all CyberBay 2025 conference attendees; no pre-qualification required.
  • On-site Requirement: Physical presence at the conference is required.
  • Student Team Definition: All members must be active, full-time students, with at most 2 postgraduate students.

We will be hosting several information sessions ahead of the competition. The next one will take place at 4pm ET on Wednesday, August 28th. Join at https://mctf.io/xfn36

In addition, we will be sponsoring several teams to travel to the conference in October. Winners of the following upcoming Jeopardy-style CTFs will be eligible:

  • August 28th (5pm – 7pm ET) – MetaCTF August Flash CTF. This is an individual competition, but the winner will get to select their team and travel with them to the conference. Sign up at https://mctf.io/aug2025
  • September 13th (12pm – 8pm) – Road to CyberBay CTF. Unlimited team size but the top team can only send 4 people. At least the top overall team and the top 5 student teams will be sponsored to come. Sign up at https://mctf.io/cyberbay25quals
  • September 18th (5pm – 7pm) – MetaCTF September Flash CTF. Team size details TBD, but one team will be sponsored to go to the conference. Sign up at https://mctf.io/sep2025

Travel reimbursement details:

  • 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 competitor.
  • 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.
  • Student teams may also send a coach. The coach will be provided with free conference admission, but no additional hotel or travel benefits will be provided.

For questions regarding the competition or the rules, please contact 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.