GITEX AFRICA Morocco, a tech event and flagship start-up in African technology, held its first edition from May 31 to June 2 in Marrakech. On the sidelines of this technological showcase, the “Catch The Flag” (CTF) cybersecurity competition was organized, which saw the representatives of L’École 1337 shine by winning the 1st and 3rd prizes.
More than 600 participants from 52 countries competed in this CTF competition, which consists of a computer security exercise where “FLAGs” are concealed in deliberately vulnerable programs or websites.
Participants, whether beginners, veterans, students or professionals, formed teams of up to three players and competed online for three days, seven hours a day, taking on challenges in cryptography, web mining and reverse engineering.
Seven teams stood out thanks to their versatility, technical expertise and in-depth knowledge of IT security. These teams won prizes worth a total of 350,000 MAD.
The winning teams of the first three places come respectively from Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Moroccan teams, named ‘Autistic Troopers’ and ‘1337?’, made up of representatives from École 1337, took first and third place. As for second place, it was won by the “ITSNOTAGAME” team, made up of an engineering student from the National Institute of Posts and Telecommunications (INPT), an employee of the Orange company and a winner from Al Akhawayn University, currently working in Casablanca”.
The winners were honored and received at a special ceremony held in Rabat on June 15, 2023 at ADD headquarters, in the presence of senior officials from ADD and DGSSI.
The operation of handing over the prizes to the winners was entrusted to a recognized notary.
This international competition demonstrates the commitment of the Kingdom of Morocco and the United Arab Emirates to strengthen cooperation and develop skills in cybersecurity. In a field where the shortage of qualified profiles is worrying, this competition helps to stimulate the interest of participants and promote the emergence of new talent.
Note that this competition was successfully organized by the Digital Development Agency (ADD), the General Directorate of Information Systems Security (DGSSI) and the Cybersecurity Council of the United Arab Emirates.
In this regard, the organizers would like to express their gratitude to their partners, CPX, CTF.ae, as well as the sponsors, the OCP Group and AXELI, who have greatly contributed to this success.
