Capture the Flag
Think You Can Hack It?
Compete solo, or as a team across web exploitation, reverse engineering, cryptography, forensics, and more. Whether it's your first CTF or your fiftieth, you're welcome here.
2026 CTF details coming soon
We're finalizing the format and challenges for this year. The information below reflects what we've done in prior years.
What is a CTF?
Capture the Flag (CTF) is a cybersecurity competition where you solve security challenges to find hidden “flags” (proof that you cracked the problem). Challenges span categories like web exploitation, reverse engineering, cryptography, and forensics, with difficulty levels ranging from beginner to expert.
BSides Tampa has been running CTF competitions since 2016. Whether you're solving your first challenge or gunning for the top of the leaderboard, it's built for everyone, not just the experts.
Track Record
Years of Flags Falling
Challenge Domains
Pick Your Poison
Web Exploitation
SQL injection, XSS, authentication bypasses, and modern web app vulnerabilities.
Reverse Engineering
Binary analysis, disassembly, and understanding compiled code to find hidden flags.
Cryptography
Breaking ciphers, exploiting weak implementations, and classical crypto challenges.
Forensics
Disk images, memory dumps, network captures, and digital evidence analysis.
Pwn / Binary Exploitation
Buffer overflows, format strings, ROP chains, and low-level exploitation techniques.
OSINT
Open source intelligence gathering, reconnaissance, and investigative challenges.
“CTF was amazing. Made the entire day.”
- BSides Tampa 2025 participant
Accessible to start, competitive to finish
Never done a CTF before? We try to make the early challenges approachable, and you'll find people willing to help you get started. But it ramps up. The later challenges are designed to test experienced competitors.
Come to learn, stay because you got hooked. Prizes for top finishers.
CTF Lead
Trey Bilbrey
Questions about the CTF? Jump into our Discord and ask away. Our CTF crew and community are happy to help.