PACTF

PACTF, or Phillips Academy Capture The Flag, is an annual online computer security competition created for middle and high school students. It introduces participants to cybersecurity through a series of increasingly challenging puzzles involving tasks such as hacking, decryption, and reverse engineering. Competitors work individually or in teams of one to five, solve problems, and submit the resulting “flags” to earn points.

The competition is organized into two rounds, each lasting one week. Rather than requiring participants to compete continuously, PACTF lets each team choose a two-day period within a round to pursue points, while problems from previous rounds remain available for practice. Separate round scoreboards and an overall scoreboard track results. PACTF also offers prizes and acknowledges the sponsors who support the event; its 2018 competition awarded more than $20,000 in prizes, with a similar goal announced for 2019. The website provides competition information, registration and login, past event materials, team and winner details, help resources, and a chat feature. PACTF is associated with Phillips Academy.