03-21, 10:00–10:25 (Europe/Ljubljana), PA
Most infrastructure is built to be used; CTF infrastructure is built to be abused. When your user base consists of hundreds of hackers armed with weaponized 1-days and a competitive drive to bypass your guardrails, "standard" scalability and security models fall apart.
Drawing from two years of organizing on-site jeopardy competitions for several hundred participants, this talk deconstructs the unique intersection of high-concurrency DevOps and aggressive hardening. We will explore the "war stories" of managing real-time exploits, mitigating flag-sharing, and maintaining a satisfactory user experience in this unique and challenging environment.
Rok is a software engineer and cybersecurity enthusiast currently completing his Master of Computer Science at Delft University of Technology. A seasoned CTF competitor with numerous podium finishes in both national and international arenas, Rok bridges the gap between offensive security and robust engineering. His experience organizing large-scale CTF events has given him a unique, "under-the-hood" perspective on building systems that are as secure and scalable as they are reliable.