PACTF was an annual web-based computer security Capture the Flag (CTF) competition for middle and high school students.[2] It was founded by a group of students at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts.[5] The competition's sponsors include the Abbot Academy Association at Phillips Academy; the Information Networking Institute and CyLab at Carnegie Mellon University; the Hariri Institute for Computing, Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC) project, and Modular Approach to Cloud Security (MACS) project at Boston University; and other entities.[6][7]
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Screenshot  PACTF Home Page 04-AUG-2016 | |
Type of site | Competition |
|---|---|
| Available in | English |
| Owner | Phillips Academy Techmasters[1] |
| Created by |
|
| URL | www |
| Commercial | No |
| Registration | Required |
| Launched | November 12, 2015[3] |
| Current status | Archived |
| Written in | Python[4] |
This competition follows the Jeopardy CTF format,[8] where teams “hack, decrypt, reverse, and do whatever it takes to solve increasingly challenging security puzzles."[9] Once a team successfully determines the security vulnerability purposefully left in the problem material and executes an attack, they can obtain an answer string called a "flag." By submitting the correct flag, teams can receive feedback and points that improve their ranking.[10]
In April 2016, more than 1000 teams from the United States and other countries participated in the competition.[2] The second and third PACTF competitions took place in the Spring of 2017 and 2018 at similar scales.[11][12][13] The fourth PACTF competition took place in May 2019.[14]