Capture the Flag 2026
Sharpen Your Skills. Compete with the Community.
November 19th – 23rd, 2026. Virtual.
Register now!
Whether you’re just beginning your digital investigations journey or you’re the teammate everyone calls when things get complicated, Capture the Flag (CTF) 2026 has a challenge built for you.
What Is Capture the Flag?
Capture the Flag is a hands-on digital forensics competition where participants investigate real datasets, uncover critical evidence, and solve challenges to earn points. It combines learning, problem-solving, and friendly competition in an environment designed by the 101 Operatives.
Whether you play solo or with a team, you’ll gain practical experience that can be applied directly to real investigations.
Tracks
This year, choose from two unique competition tracks:
CTF: Investigators Track
Perfect for newer practitioners looking to build confidence and gain hands-on experience. Ideal for Investigators, Prosecutors, and those new to DFIR, looking to practice their skills with Reader and Genesis. (Genesis trial access will be provided)
CTF: Examiners Track
Perfect for seasoned practitioners ready to push their expertise to the next level. Ideal for Examiners and experienced DFIR professionals leveraging Inseyets PA and other forensic examination tools.
Why Participate?
- Learn by Doing
Apply your skills in realistic investigative scenarios instead of watching another webinar. - Challenge Yourself
Measure your skills against peers from around the world. - Discover New Techniques
Explore different approaches to evidence analysis, triage, and problem-solving. - Earn Recognition
Compete for leaderboard rankings, prizes, and community bragging rights.
How the
Game Works
Timeframe
Competition starts: 12:01 AM EST on November 19th, 2026
Competition ends: 11:59 PM EST on November 23rd, 2026
Rules
Questions & Answers
Most questions are readily available; however, you will find you need to answer some to unlock others.
Read each question carefully as you will not get unlimited attempts to answer.
Make sure you note the format provided. Unless specified in the answer, the text will be case insensitive.
Timestamps should be provided in UTC +/- 0000 unless otherwise specified in the question. Dates should be entered in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format.
Scoring
There are three levels of questions, and the points are listed accordingly.
HINTS may be provided for Level 1 and Level 2. Keep in mind, that you will lose points for using hints. Level 3 has NO hints! Points may be awarded to players who are active on social media during the CTF. We want to see your posts!
Winners & Prizes
Winners will be announced on November 30th on the Cellebrite X (Formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn accounts along with the 101 Community.
We will be selecting 1 team (3 players max) and 5 individuals as winners.
Winners will be awarded free passes to the C2C Summit in Spring of 2027.
Ready Player One
Register for your preferred CTF track to receive a confirmation email.
Your confirmation email includes instructions for joining the 101 CTF Community Group and logging into the CTF Game Site.
Data sets and passwords are released the week before the game begins.