# PACTF

> Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/PACTF
> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/PACTF.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACTF
> Source revision: 1300951338
> License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/)

{{Short description|Computer security competition}}
{{Orphan|date=October 2019}}

{{Infobox website
| name               = PACTF
| logo               = PACTF logo.png
| logo_size          = 150px
| logo_alt           = 
| logo_caption       = 
| screenshot         = PACTF Home Page 04-AUG-2016.png
| collapsible        = y
| background         = <!-- for collapsetext heading; default grey (gainsboro) -->
| screenshot_size    = 
| screenshot_alt     = 
| caption            = PACTF Home Page 04-AUG-2016
| url                = {{URL|https://www.pactf.com/}}
| commercial         = No
| type               = [Competition](/source/Competition)
| registration       = Required
| language           = English
| num_users          = 
| content_license    = <!-- or: | content_licence = -->
| programming_language = Python<ref name="GitHub">{{Cite web|url=https://github.com/PACTF/pactf|title=PACTF Source Code|website=GitHub|access-date=2016-08-04}}</ref>
| owner              = Phillips Academy Techmasters<ref name="PACTF About">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pactf.com/about/|title=About PACTF|website=www.pactf.com|publisher=PACTF|access-date=2016-08-04}}</ref>
| authors             = {{plainlist|
* Yatharth Agarwal
* Tony Tan
* Cameron Wong<ref name="CMU Cylab" />
}}
| editor             = <!-- or: | editors = -->
| launch_date        = {{start date and age|2015|11|12|df=no}}<ref name="Abbot">{{Cite web|url=https://www.andover.edu/About/AbbotAcademyAssociation/GrantHistory/Pages/CurrentYearProposals.aspx|title=Current Year Grants - Abbot Academy Association|website=www.andover.edu|publisher=Phillips Academy|access-date=2016-08-04|archive-date=2016-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804140227/https://www.andover.edu/About/AbbotAcademyAssociation/GrantHistory/Pages/CurrentYearProposals.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| alexa              = <!-- {{increase}} {{steady}} {{decrease}} [http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/example.com ##] (US/Global MM/YYYY) -->
| issn               = <!-- ISSN, e.g. 1085-6706 (automatically linked to http://www.WorldCat.org) -->
| oclc               = <!-- OCLC number, useful where an ISSN has not been allocated (automatically linked to http://www.WorldCat.org) -->
| current_status     = Archived
| footnotes          = 
}}
thumb|2016 PACTF Organizers
'''PACTF''' was an annual [web-based](/source/web-based) [computer security](/source/computer_security) Capture the Flag (CTF) competition for middle and high school students.<ref name="CMU Cylab">{{Cite web|url=https://www.cylab.cmu.edu/news/2016/06/08-phillips-academy-ctf.html|title=Thanks to CyLab's picoCTF, the Phillips Academy celebrates its own successful hacking contest - Carnegie Mellon University CyLab|last=Tkacik|first=Daniel|date=2016-06-08|website=www.cylab.cmu.edu|publisher=Carnegie Mellon University CyLab Security and Privacy Institute|access-date=2016-08-03}}</ref> It was founded by a group of students at [Phillips Academy](/source/Phillips_Academy) in [Andover, Massachusetts](/source/Andover%2C_Massachusetts).<ref name="Phillipian">{{Cite web|url=http://phillipian.net/2016/05/03/p-c-t-f-competition-hopes-educates-students-computer-security/|title=P.A.C.T.F. Competition Hopes To Educate Students in Computer Security|last1=Ramos|first1=JP|last2=Tolo|first2=Larson|date=2016-05-03|website=The Phillipian|access-date=2016-08-03}}</ref> The competition's sponsors include the [Abbot Academy Association](/source/Abbot_Academy) at Phillips Academy; the [Information Networking Institute](/source/Information_Networking_Institute) and [CyLab](/source/Carnegie_Mellon_CyLab) at [Carnegie Mellon University](/source/Carnegie_Mellon_University); the Hariri Institute for Computing, Massachusetts Open Cloud (MOC) project, and Modular Approach to Cloud Security (MACS) project at [Boston University](/source/Boston_University); and other entities.<ref name="CMU INI">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ini.cmu.edu/news/2016/06/PACTF.html|title=INI and CyLab sponsor high school's first hacking contest|website=www.ini.cmu.edu|access-date=2016-08-03|archive-date=2016-08-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160804140242/https://www.ini.cmu.edu/news/2016/06/PACTF.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="PACTF Sponsors">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pactf.com/sponsors/|title=Sponsors|website=PACTF|access-date=2016-08-03}}</ref>

This competition follows the Jeopardy CTF format,<ref name="CTFtime ctf-wtf">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ctftime.org/ctf-wtf|title=CTFtime ctf-wtf|website=www.ctftime.org/ctf-wtf}}</ref> where teams “hack, decrypt, reverse, and do whatever it takes to solve increasingly challenging security puzzles."<ref name="PACTF Home">{{Cite web|url=https://www.pactf.com/|title=PACTF|website=www.pactf.com|publisher=PACTF|access-date=2016-08-04}}</ref> Once a team successfully determines the security vulnerability purposefully left in the problem material and executes an attack, they can obtain an answer string called a "flag." By submitting the correct flag, teams can receive feedback and points that improve their ranking.<ref name="BU">{{Cite web|url=https://www.bu.edu/hic/2016/06/23/institute-macs-and-moc-co-sponsor-online-computer-security-competition/|title=Institute, MACS, and MOC Co-Sponsor Online Computer Security Competition » Rafik Hariri Institute for Computing and Computational Science & Engineering {{!}} Blog Archive {{!}} Boston University|date=2016-06-23|website=www.bu.edu|publisher=Boston University|access-date=2016-08-03}}</ref>

In April 2016, more than 1000 teams from the [United States](/source/United_States) and other countries participated in the competition.<ref name="CMU Cylab" /> The second and third PACTF competitions took place in the Spring of 2017 and 2018 at similar scales.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://phillipian.net/2017/04/30/pactf-attracts-thousands-hacking-afficionados-worldwide/|title=PACTF Attracts Thousands of Hacking Afficionados &#91;sic&#93; Worldwide|last1=Chang|first1=Tiffany|last2=Cordova-Potter|first2=Zar|date=2017-04-30|website=The Phillipian|language=en-US|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://medium.com/@hongalex/pactf-2018-writeup-ai-b2cbd4e0ce66|title=PACTF 2018 Writeup: AI|last=Hong|first=Alex|date=2018-05-26|website=Medium|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://pdf.phillipian.net/2018/04202018.pdf|title=Phillips Academy Capture the Flag (PACTF) Launches Third Annual Computer Science Competition|date=2018-04-20|work=The Phillipian|access-date=2019-04-15|page=6}}</ref> The fourth PACTF competition took place in May 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2019.pactf.com/|title=PACTF|last=PACTF|website=2019.pactf.com|language=en|access-date=2019-04-15}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

Category:Hackathons
Category:Competitions in the United States

---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [PACTF](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACTF) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PACTF?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.