TISC 2021 Summary

The Challenge for TISC 2021

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.

Challenge Duration

29 Oct 2021 (2100H) - 14 Nov 2021 (2100H).

PALINDROME's operations foiled!

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.

Challenge Creators

Big shoutout also to the challenge creators (a.k.a. agents of PALINDROME 😉)! TISC wouldn't have been as challenging without your brilliance. Your identity will now be revealed:

Level 1 - Scratching the Surface

Creator: CSIT

Level 2 - Dee Na Saw

Creator: George Chen (Linkedin)

Level 3 - Needle in a Greystack

Creator: Li Bailin (Linkedin)

Level 4 - The Magician's Den

Creator: Chua Wei Kiat (Linkedin)

Level 5 - Need for Speed

Creator: CSIT

Level 6 - Knock Knock, Who's There

Creator: CSIT

Level 7 - The Secret

Creator: He Feixiang (Linkedin)

Level 8 - Get-Shwifty

Creator: CSIT

Level 9 - 1865 Text Adventure

Creator: Jeremy Heng (Linkedin) (Github)

Level 10 - Malware for UwU

Creator: CSIT

Click here to learn about their inspiration!

Challenge Creator Digital Badge

All of our challenge creators received an exclusive Digital Badge which they can display on their LinkedIn profile and other social media pages.

Statistics

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.

TISC 2021 Cash Prize Winners

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 Wei

Highest level completed: 10
Cash prize: $25,000

Choo Yi Kai

Highest level completed: 8
Cash prize: $5,000

tisc winners visual

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!

PALINDROME’s parting gift

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 Badge of Completion

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.

Scoreboard of top participants

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.

Write-ups

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

Badge of Participation

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.