--- title: Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed... description: A talk transcript from a principal engineer at a Java consultancy sharing how they organized a security-themed CTF (Capture the Flag) hackathon for their team.... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/make-cybersecurity-fun-host-your-own-security-themed-hackathon-by-artem-makarov-2vcfpje7b twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed Hackathon by Artem Makarov | daily.dev og:description: A talk transcript from a principal engineer at a Java consultancy sharing how they organized a security-themed CTF (Capture the Flag) hackathon for their team.... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/make-cybersecurity-fun-host-your-own-security-themed-hackathon-by-artem-makarov-2vcfpje7b og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/2vCfpJe7B.png og:image:alt: Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed Hackathon by Artem Makarov og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed Hackathon by Artem Makarov **[Devoxx](https://daily.dev/sources/devoxx)** · 15 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A talk transcript from a principal engineer at a Java consultancy sharing how they organized a security-themed CTF (Capture the Flag) hackathon for their team. Covers what CTFs are, challenge types (web, cryptography, binary exploitation, reverse engineering, forensics), platform options like CTFD, how to source or create challenges (including using AI to generate vulnerable code), event logistics such as team size, scoring, hints, and rules, plus lessons learned from running a 3-day internal hackathon. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [4 Reasons Why CTFs Are One of the Best Ways to Grow in Cybersecurity](https://daily.dev/posts/4-reasons-why-ctfs-are-one-of-the-best-ways-to-grow-in-cybersecurity-jokdcaho8) · Snyk · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [How Playing CTFs Taught Me to Think Like a Hacker](https://daily.dev/posts/how-playing-ctfs-taught-me-to-think-like-a-hacker-bgrsbuf5m) · InfoSec Write-ups · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#cyber](https://daily.dev/tags/cyber), [#sql](https://daily.dev/tags/sql), [#hackathon](https://daily.dev/tags/hackathon) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/make-cybersecurity-fun-host-your-own-security-themed-hackathon-by-artem-makarov-2vcfpje7b) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed Hackathon by Artem Makarov","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/make-cybersecurity-fun-host-your-own-security-themed-hackathon-by-artem-makarov-2vcfpje7b","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/make-cybersecurity-fun-host-your-own-security-themed-hackathon-by-artem-makarov-2vcfpje7b"},"datePublished":"2026-04-08T19:28:36.138Z","dateModified":"2026-04-08T19:29:00.439Z","description":"A talk transcript from a principal engineer at a Java consultancy sharing how they organized a security-themed CTF (Capture the Flag) hackathon for their team....","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1BMJ81jfeRI/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1BMJ81jfeRI/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Devoxx","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Devoxx","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--6vG797wn--/f_auto,q_auto/v1773648800/logos/devoxx?_a=BAMAMiiu0","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/devoxx"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/make-cybersecurity-fun-host-your-own-security-themed-hackathon-by-artem-makarov-2vcfpje7b","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"cyber,sql,hackathon","timeRequired":"PT15M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed Hackathon by Artem Makarov","description":"A talk transcript from a principal engineer at a Java consultancy sharing how they organized a security-themed CTF (Capture the Flag) hackathon for their team....","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1BMJ81jfeRI/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-04-08T19:28:36.138Z","duration":"PT15M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/2vCfpJe7B","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/1BMJ81jfeRI"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Devoxx","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/devoxx"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Make Cybersecurity Fun: Host Your Own Security-Themed Hackathon by Artem Makarov"}]} ```