01 / Learn
Build your foundation.
Work through explicit instruction in the classes below. Learn the tools, the technical background, and the basic techniques behind the flags.
Start with SSHerlock →pps{CyberTechniquesFest} / Pittsburgh cybersecurity
Learn the techniques.
Capture the flag.
Fall 2026 schedule
Tentative · All times Eastern
Select a lesson’s resource link to get started. October 31 is confirmed; other dates remain tentative. Competition slots will be announced separately.
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Tue, Oct 205:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Intro and overview
Intro and overview, cyber.org range, team formation, outside resources, and picoCTF
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Thu, Oct 22No meeting
No session — PGC Fall Festival
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Tue, Oct 275:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
SSHerlock
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Thu, Oct 295:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
HashHound
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Sat, Oct 319:30 AM–1:30 PM ET · Carnegie Main Library (Oakland)
Capture the Flag at Carnegie Main Library
Compete in IUP’s high school CTF. Bring a team or join one when you arrive. Pizza included!
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Tue, Nov 35:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Mini-Challenge
Practice session
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Thu, Nov 55:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Mini-Challenge Review
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Tue, Nov 105:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
CyberCartographer
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Thu, Nov 125:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
MsDisin
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Sat, Nov 149:30 AM–1:30 PM ET · Carnegie Main Library (Oakland)
Capture the Flag at Carnegie Main Library
Compete in PC4A’s high school CTF. Bring a team or join one when you arrive. Pizza included!
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Tue, Nov 175:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Mini-Challenge
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Thu, Nov 195:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Mini-Challenge Review
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Sat, Nov 21Time to be announced
Optional Mini-CTF / Open Lab
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Tue, Nov 24–Nov 26No meeting
Thanksgiving Pause
No required sessions
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Tue, Dec 15:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
LANgeist
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Thu, Dec 35:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
MALchemist
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Tue, Dec 85:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Mini-Challenge
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Thu, Dec 105:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Portalord
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Sat, Dec 12Time to be announced
Full-Environment Lab
Multi-role practice and competition preparation
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Tue, Dec 155:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
8ball
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Thu, Dec 175:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
Cyberus
Tournament overview
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Sat, Dec 19Time to be announced
Optional Open Range / Technical Check
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Mon, Dec 21–Dec 23Team slots to be scheduled
pps{CyberTechniquesFest} Competition Window
Exact team slots to be scheduled separately
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Wed, Dec 235:45–7:45 PM ET · Teams
After Action Review & fall closeout
After Action Review, results, recognition, fall closeout, and pps{CyberTacticsForce} interest — following the final tournament slots
Explicit instruction. Real flags. A technical path from absolute beginner to expert, with the knowledge to understand how each technique works.
Earn evidence for your next opportunity →
The Verified Competency Record connects demonstrated skills to college, scholarship, and career applications.
The foundation for every participant.Everyone participating in a Forge event is expected to know the basic techniques taught here. Begin with guided lessons, practice in the environment, and grow into more demanding flag hunts.
Techniques Track / pps{CTF} → CyLab
Start with the basics. Keep going.
Absolute beginner → Expert
02 / Practice
Put it into action.
Apply what you know to actual flags. Use mini-challenges, labs, and reviews to build confidence and connect techniques across the pps{CTF} environment.
Find a practice session →03 / Advance
Hunt further.
Capture more flags in the environment, tackle harder problems, and progress toward expert challenges and national flag-hunting competitions.
Explore what comes next →VCR / Verified Competency Record
Build skills. Leave with evidence.
Turn what you demonstrate into something you can take forward: an evidence-backed record for college applications, scholarship consideration, and your résumé.
CyberTacticsForge manages the Verified Competency Record for events it hosts. Through participation, students can earn verified competencies by demonstrating what they can actually do inside a Forge environment. The VCR translates that observable activity into durable evidence of individual competency.
College applicationsShow admissions readers specific skills and the work behind them.
Scholarship opportunitiesSupport applications with demonstrated ability, initiative, and growth.
Résumés & job applicationsGive employers concrete examples of what you have done and can explain.
The scoreboard answers “Who won?”The VCR answers “What can this person demonstrably do?”
01 / Technical competencies
Show the skill.
Find and analyze an artifact, harden a system, change a configuration, or restore a service. Flags and automated checks can provide evidence of specific accomplishments.
02 / Operational competencies
Show your judgment.
Diagnose, prioritize, recover, and adapt as conditions change. Service availability, system state, and activity logs can capture work that a single flag cannot.
03 / Professional evidence
Explain your work.
A GitHub write-up or after-action review (AAR) records what you encountered, what you did, and what you learned—especially during CyberTacticsEngagement.
How demonstrated work becomes a verified record
Each challenge starts with an intent: the competency the participant should demonstrate. Evidence requirements follow that intent and the actual source environment.
- Intent
- Evidence sources
- Validation
- Competency record
Flags can show discovery or analysis. State checks show whether a required change succeeded. Uptime shows whether a service stayed available. Telemetry and event logs show activity. A participant’s AAR adds explanation and reflection. Together, these can support one competency record; competition scoring remains separate.
Illustrative competency / Network service recovery
Restore SSH while preserving firewall protection.
Evidence could show that the participant diagnosed the outage, restored the service, allowed access from the management network, and preserved the restriction on public access. The record connects the demonstrated competency to its environment, supporting evidence, and verification.
Your record reflects your contribution. Individual environments provide clearer attribution. In collaborative force-on-force events, team outcomes need evidence of the individual’s actions, supported by their own GitHub artifact or AAR. A team result alone cannot establish what each participant demonstrated.
Participation creates the opportunity. Demonstrated competency gives you evidence to carry into your next application.
The technical foundation
Your class directory.
Open a lesson and get to work.
Take Pittsburgh further
Where the techniques can take you.
Keep hunting flags
Go beyond the local range.
Build toward national flag-hunting competitions, including opportunities through Carnegie Mellon University’s CyLab Security Academy. Bring Pittsburgh’s talent to a wider stage.
A possible career directionBug bounty hunting and code-focused red teaming.
Explore CyLab Security Academy ↗Put your foundation to work
Ready for the Tactics Track?
Use your technical competency in a live team environment. Follow the Tactics Track at ForgeOps: build defensive skills through CyberPatriot, then attack and defend in CyberTacticsEngagement as a Digital Operations Group.
Explore the Tactics Track at ForgeOps →Built with community
Pittsburgh talent. Shared effort.
With appreciation for Carnegie Mellon University’s CTF community and BlackGirlsHack for supplying coaches and mentors.