PRATHYUSHA ENGINEERING COLLEGE

• Participants may compete individually or in teams of up to 4 members [Placeholder].
• Cross-institutional teams are permitted.
• Team members cannot be swapped after the 24-hour competition begins.

• Sharing flags, writeups, or solutions between opposing teams during the event is strictly prohibited.
• Do not solicit outside assistance during active challenge periods.
• Compete with technical honor and integrity.

• All flags follow the standard format: XploitXβ{flag} unless specified otherwise.
• Flags are case-sensitive and must be submitted through the official portal.
• Brute-forcing the flag submission box is disallowed and will trigger automated rate limits.

• Scoring operates on dynamic challenge point values based on total number of solves.
• Ties are resolved based on the timestamp of the last valid flag submission.
• The scoreboard will freeze during the final stretch before closing ceremonies.

• Do not attack, alter, or sabotage challenges to prevent other participants from solving them.
• Do not leave persistence or backdoors on challenge instances.
• Report any critical infrastructure bugs to the admin Discord/Telegram.

• Attacking the CTF hosting infrastructure, score server, or organizer networks is strictly prohibited.
• Denial of Service (DoS/DDoS) attacks against any target will result in immediate disqualification.
• Limit automated scanners to reasonable thread limits to prevent service degradation.

• Any team caught cheating, flag-sharing, or exploiting scoreboard bugs will be disqualified instantly.
• Organizers reserve the right to audit solution writeups from top-ranked teams prior to prize disbursement.

• Maintain professional, respectful communication with fellow competitors, mentors, and staff.
• Harassment or disruptive behavior will not be tolerated.

XPLOITX 2.0 BETA is a premier 24-hour cybersecurity Capture The Flag competition organized by the Department of Cyber Security at Prathyusha Engineering College. It serves as a preliminary beta edition paving the way for the larger-scale international edition in 2027.

A Capture The Flag (CTF) is an offensive cybersecurity competition where participants solve technical puzzles across domains like web exploitation, cryptography, reverse engineering, and forensics to discover hidden secret strings known as "flags".

Undergraduate and postgraduate students, cybersecurity enthusiasts, and security researchers from recognized institutions are welcome to compete.

The competition runs for exactly 24 hours.

The event is scheduled for 08 - 09 OCTOBER 2026 (8th October 10:00 AM to 9th October 10:00 AM). The official registration deadline is 30 September 2026.

Challenges award points upon submitting a valid flag. The CTF uses a dynamic scoring model where point values scale based on the number of teams that solve a challenge.

Yes. Participants can compete in teams (up to 4 members [Placeholder]). Cross-college teams are permitted.

Familiarity with Linux command line, Python/scripting, web application security (OWASP Top 10), basic assembly/disassembly (Ghidra, IDA), Wireshark packet analysis, and cryptanalysis tools will be valuable.

Flags are submitted directly into the input field on the official CTF platform following the standard format XploitXβ{flag}. Once validated, your team's score updates immediately on the live scoreboard.

All registered teams will receive secure platform login credentials and orientation instructions via email prior to the start of the competition.

The registration fee is ₹150 per head (Early Bird Offer). Teams can complete their registration securely through the online registration portal.

XPLOITX 2.0 BETA is an OFFLINE (In-Person) 24-Hour continuous cybersecurity hackathon and CTF competition hosted physically on-campus at Prathyusha Engineering College.