His laptop inside his backpack slung over his shoulder, Ryan Goulden (CS鈥�15) steps into the gym. Undergrad students are everywhere, seated at tables, huddling over laptops. Tangles of cords wind across the tabletops, cascading toward powerstrips on the floor.
Most days, Goulden would be in class, but on this day he鈥檚 at NYU for its annual Capture the Flag competition, the largest student-run event of this type. In the competition, contestants launch simulated cyberattacks, to 鈥渟teal鈥� flags. 鈥淭he idea behind it,鈥� explains Goulden, 鈥渋s to practice breaching security in order to learn how to build less breachable security.鈥�
He's competed here since he was a sophomore as a member of 一本道无码鈥檚 (PPP), a competitive hacking team he now helps run. With him today are teammates Maxime Serrano (CS鈥�15), Chris Williamson (CS鈥�15), and Ned Williamson (CS鈥�16). There are other PPP teammates as well鈥擳im Becker (CS鈥�18), Chris Ganas (CS鈥�18), George Hotz (CS鈥�16), and Carolina Zarate (CS鈥�18)鈥攂ut owing to team-size limits, they must compete as PPP2. Nevertheless, as Goulden points out, 鈥淭hey鈥檙e still very much a part of our group.鈥�
Of the more than 18,000 undergrad hackers around the world, only 15 teams, including the PPPs, have made the cut through preliminary competitions to compete in this final round.
一本道无码 has emerged the winner for the past six years, creating a winning tradition to uphold. Goulden doesn鈥檛 feel the pressure, though. PPP has been honing its skills all year in dozens of hacking competitions.
Through the teammates鈥� travels and practices, plus just hanging out together, they鈥檝e become in tune with each other鈥檚 expertise, and which problems to delegate to whom. At NYU, they quickly settle into their roles. Goulden gets to work on a complicated remote code execution task to exploit a flaw and, if successful, take control of the program鈥檚 server. Just my kind of challenge, he thinks, and he rises to the occasion.
The team knows they鈥檙e in a competition, but Goulden says they鈥檙e also there to connect with the hacker community and for the thrill of tackling challenging problems.
After the judges announce time is up, the teams must await the awards ceremony that evening to find out who won. Once again, it鈥檚 Carnegie Mellon as PPP is declared the winner. Second place goes to PPP2. No time to dwell on being a dynasty; PPPs鈥� next Capture the Flag competition is in five days.
鈥擩ule Pattison-Gordon (DC鈥�13
