Kaizen, a Capture the Flag Event

Booz Allen is excited to present Kaizen, a Capture the Flag event. This interactive event is designed to build the skills of information security enthusiasts through hands-on challenges in areas such as forensics, web exploitation, scripting, and binary reverse engineering. Kaizen was built to challenge participants of all skill levels. Whether you are a 1337 h4x0r or new to information security and want a healthy environment to try your first CTF, come check out Kaizen!

Kaizen is split into separate levels with a variety of challenges. Our scoring server and leaderboard tracks your progress as you capture the challenge flags. Top scores will receive prizes such as Amazon gift cards. Come test your information security knowledge in a fun relaxed environment, and enjoy hands-on learning with various interactive challenges.

The word Kaizen, in Japanese culture, is used to describe "change for the best" and "continuous improvement". The Kaizen CTF exemplifies this culture and encourages participants to learn by doing. Participants are immersed into a technical environment where self teaching is encouraged, and are introduced to a wide variety of information security topics, where they will have to research problems and apply the newly gained knowledge on-the-fly.

Kaizen, At a Glance

• Realistic — Participants are faced with real world challenges, doing Internet research, crafting new solutions and pure development/scripting on-the-fly.
• Hands On — Truly 100% hands on, independent learning; no lecturing. Mentors walk around and provide one-on-one help when needed, but participants are encouraged to succeed through independent learning.
• Accommodates all experience levels
  • Experienced/senior technical participants are motivated to compete, test their skills, and gain points on the leader board.
  • Junior participants can trade points for hints, work with mentors, research and learn how to solve problems in a safe but competition space.
• Environment — One of the key elements that make this successful is the relaxed and fun environment. Stop on by, say hello, and network with individuals like you!

Accolades

• Cyber Cup CTF win Huntsville, AL In an 18-team CTF competition—part of the 8th annual National Cyber Summit—Booz Allen’s two Dark Labs teams finished first and second place
• Red Team challenge CTF win Boston, MA The Dark Labs Kaizen CTF team won this 10-team CTF, hosted by Hack/Reduce in Rapid7’s Cambridge office
• S4xCTF for Industrial Control Systems Win Miami, FL Won 1st place in a CTF focused on ICS systems, nearly doubling the score of the 2nd place finisher – previously undefeated Cisco’s Advanced Research Team