On August 23–24, 2025, a competition was launched in Laayoune by Nouniverse, in partnership with AKASEC Club at 1337 Coding School.
It was my very first experience participating in a Capture the Flag (CTF) competition. I had no prior knowledge in the field of information security, but I did bring along some of my existing skills in web development and Linux.
The Big mistake that I made, I didn't add maximum people to the team, which could lighten the load on us by distributing it among team members.
Anyway, I joined the competition with my friend Ayman, that solve one easy exercise and then disappeared (:, leaving me alone fighting against hard challenges with my windows 10 (:, while the other skilled contesters armed with kali Linux, and I am fighting with Windows 10.
Still, I managed to solve several challenges, and for others, I came very close but got stuck on the final steps.
I didn't prepare a Kali or Parrot, due to this, each time i have to install a tool, BurpSuite for web challenges. Wireshark for another challenge, HexEditor again.. may be we need a Windows distribution just for the PenTesters (:.
also, I used many online websites to win the time, python compiler, C++ compiler, Encryption & Decryption websites, DogBolt for reverse engineering.
By the end of the day, I switched to Parrot OS, booted live from a USB stick, so I keep working, I didn't sleep enough, feeling the need to win can't let you go.
I feel proud to gain these points, first teams gained between 4000 and 3000 points, they have 4 or 3 members, each one gain 1000-2000, that's why I believe that I did my best.
In the end, it was a truly valuable experience. We got the chance to meet elite experts in the field, who shared with us some of the most important insights from the very core of information security.
Top comments (3)
great work my friend
don't leave me fighting alone again.