A major cyber attack had occurred, disrupting several of Singapore's critical infrastructure and cyber space. CSIT and other fellow Cybersecurity experts embarked on a journey to investigate and hunt down the dangerous, mischievous and malicious actor, PALINDROME.
There was a series of challenges from level 1-10 for Cybersecurity experts to complete in order to put a halt to PALINDROME's operations. The levels covered topics from Web Pen-testing, Forensics, Reverse Engineering, Binary Exploitation, Cryptography, Mobile Security and IoT.
PALINDROME's attacks had been foiled and it's all thanks to the worthy cybersecurity experts that answered our call! Your ingenuity and perseverance in tackling the challenges brought down PALINDROME! Singaporeans can finally sleep safe and sound... for now.
Level 1 - Scratching the SurfaceCreator: CSIT |
Level 2 - Dee Na SawCreator: George Chen (Linkedin) |
Level 3 - Needle in a GreystackCreator: Li Bailin (Linkedin) |
Level 4 - The Magician's DenCreator: Chua Wei Kiat (Linkedin) |
Level 5 - Need for SpeedCreator: CSIT |
Level 6 - Knock Knock, Who's ThereCreator: CSIT |
Level 7 - The SecretCreator: He Feixiang (Linkedin) |
Level 8 - Get-ShwiftyCreator: CSIT |
Level 9 - 1865 Text Adventure |
Level 10 - Malware for UwUCreator: CSIT |
All of our challenge creators received an exclusive Digital Badge which they can display on their LinkedIn profile and other social media pages.
454 cybersecurity
experts answered the call in TISC 2021 to stop PALINDROME, with 387 solving at least one sub-challenge for Level 1 (there were 10 sub-challenges for Level 1). Here are some stats on their accomplishment.
A total of $30,000 cash prize was up for grabs under this year’s prize pool system. In recognition of their cybersecurity skills and hard work, TISC 2021's cash prizes were awarded to:
Eugene Lim Zhi WeiHighest level completed: 10 |
Choo Yi KaiHighest level completed: 8 |
We are proud to announce that TISC 2021 concluded with two worthy winners! Eugene, a veteran in the CTF scene, described his experience as an odyssey, having to spend more than a hundred hours cracking his head against seemingly impossible tasks. Yi Kai, a 2nd year university student, managed to muster up enough courage to join his first ever CTF - TISC 2021. Truly an amazing achievement for a CTF newbie!
Top 30 participants who completed the most number of challenges in the fastest time also received PALINDROME's parting gift, an Arduino UNO mini challenge.
TISC 2021 participants who completed at least 5 levels received an exclusive Digital Badge of Completion to level up their LinkedIn profile and other social media pages.
Below are the participants who had completed at least 5 levels of challenges.
PALINDROME’s parting gift was also given to the next 18 participants who had completed the most number of levels in the fastest time.
Below are the winners' write-up. We have also included write-ups with interesting solves. Links are all embedded in blue.
| Level 10 winner | Eugene Lim Zhi Wei |
| Level 8 winner | Choo Yi Kai |
| Completed 5 levels | Wai Jin Sheng |
| Completed 5 levels | Lee Chong Yu |
| Interesting solves | Zhang Zeyu |
All participants received a digital badge as a little memento for their participation in TISC 2021, which they can also share on their LinkedIn page or other social media pages.