Student bug bounty discovery supports picoCTF’s cybersecurity education efforts with $462,000 gift
Seunghyun Lee, a first-year Ph.D. student, discovered a series of bugs in Google Chrome's WebAssembly type system while conducting routine "fuzzing" research.
Happening Now: picoCTF 2025
March 7 to March 17, 2025
picoCTF 2025 is a 10-day competitive CTF open to anyone, with prizes available to eligible teams.
picoCTF is for everyone
picoCTF gamifies learning hacking with capture-the-flag puzzles created by trusted computer security and privacy experts atCarnegie Mellon University.
Through picoCTF, learners can:
Learn
Gain knowledge about introductory through advanced level cybersecurity principles in our noncompetitive features the picoGym and the picoPrimer.
Practice
Build your CTF skills, help yourself advance your personal best score, and prepare for the big show using our mini Competitions to practice.
Compete
Join the world’s largest free hacking competition where you can compete for cash prizes, specialty awards, and a chance to visit Carnegie Mellon University.
Visualize
See yourself in a career in cybersecurity. Cybersecurity skills are in high demand in the workforce and the need grows as computers continue to be an integral part of everyday life.
Through picoCTF, teachers can:
Facilitate
Monitor student or group progress when using the Classroom feature. Get real-time analytics on your team’s progress including the timestamp of the last challenge solved.
Play
Don’t be afraid to join in the fun and play at your own pace to test your cybersecurity knowledge or learn a new skill. The cybersecurity topics in picoCTF include introductory level concepts progressing to mastery level.
Introducing the picoGym
picoGym is a noncompetitive practice space where you can explore and solve challenges from previously released picoCTF competitions, find fresh never before revealed challenges, and build a knowledge base of cybersecurity skills in a safe environment.
Whether you are a cybersecurity professional, competitive hacker or new to CTFs you will find interesting challenges in the picoGym that you can solve at your own pace. Team picoCTF will regularly update this challenge repository so visit the picoGym often.
Practice picoGymCurrent Event
picoCTF 2025
This is a 10-day long timed CTF competition. Challenges increase in difficulty as players progress. All are welcome to join, but this CTF is recommended for players with some programming knowledge. Players with no previous programming or CTF experience should start with our noncompetitivepicoGym challenges.
Timeline
Sign up for a picoCTF.org account at anytime.
- Feb 1 to Mar 14, 2025 - Registration open
- March 7, 2025 12:00 PM EST - CTF begins
- March 17, 2025 3:00 PM EDT - CTF ends
Eligibility
Open to everyone:
- Existing or new accounts at picoCTF.org
- Age 13+
- Prizes and awards may have requirements. See competition rules for details.
picoCTF would like to thank our sponsors for providing funds for continued development.
Our Sponsors
CATEGORY SPONSORS
SPONSORS
Development of the picoCTF platform was made possible by generous gifts and grants from:
DDoS Protection Solutions generously provided by:
Challenge resources provided by:
Web design resources provided by:
Support Free Cybersecurity Education
picoCTF relies on generous donations to run. So far we've reached over 700,000 learners across the world.