The S4 ICS CTF is back for S4x23. The ICS Village will run the CTF. And it will be like 9 CTFs rolled into one.

The S4 ICS Capture The Flag competition was one of the first in the ICS category. My biased opinion is that Reid Wightman put on one of the most creative and challenging ICS CTFs at S4.

In 2020 we stopped doing the S4 ICS CTF because they became common to ICSsec events. The impressive ICS Village was present at many events. INL, CISA and others put on ICS CTFs. Once this happens, S4 moves on to be on the bleeding edge. At S4x20 this was working with ZDI to bring Pwn2Own Miami to the ICS world.

So why bring the S4 ICS CTF back?

The main reason is the move to the new venue, Loews Miami Beach, brought us more space and more options. We have eight vendors (1898, Forescout, Fortinet, Industrial Defender, Otorio, Phosphorus, Schneider Electric, and Siemens) who are S4 Prime Sponsors and will have rooms for the Monday prior to S4 and all three S4 days. Each one of these eight will be creating flags that can be captured over the Internet and others that will require local attendance.

Eight different teams creating flags will be like eight different CTFs rolled into one. Well, actually nine.  The ICS Village has agreed to take on running the CTF, and they will be bringing some gear and flags as well. This should lead to the most diverse set of flags ever in an ICS CTF.

Some logistics:

  • The CTF will begin Monday, Feb 13th at 1PM and run through 1PM on Thursday, Feb 16th. The Monday start will give attendees a chance to play before the sessions start on Tuesday morning. Experience the CTF and don’t miss a session.
  • The CTF team size will be a maximum of two people.
  • You will be able to play without being present, but you are highly unlikely to win without being present as about half of the flags will only be accessible from the CTF Wi-Fi.

We will be adding information to the CTF page as it becomes available.