In
hacking, a wargame (or war game) is a
cyber-security challenge and
mind sport
A mind sport, is a game of skill based on intellectual ability.
Etymology
The first major use of the term was as a result of the Mind Sports Olympiad in 1997. The phrase had been used prior to this event such as backgammon being described as ...
in which the competitors must exploit or defend a vulnerability in a system or application, or gain or prevent access to a
computer system
A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations (computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These progr ...
.
A wargame usually involves a
capture the flag logic, based on
pentesting,
semantic URL attack
In a semantic URL attack, a client manually adjusts the parameters of its request by maintaining the URL's syntax but altering its semantic meaning. This attack is primarily used against CGI driven websites.
A similar attack involving web bro ...
s,
knowledge-based authentication
Knowledge-based authentication, commonly referred to as KBA, is a method of authentication which seeks to prove the identity of someone accessing a service such as a financial institution or website. As the name suggests, KBA requires the knowledge ...
,
password cracking
In cryptanalysis and computer security, password cracking is the process of recovering passwords from data that has been stored in or transmitted by a computer system in scrambled form. A common approach (brute-force attack) is to repeatedly try ...
,
reverse engineering
Reverse engineering (also known as backwards engineering or back engineering) is a process or method through which one attempts to understand through deductive reasoning how a previously made device, process, system, or piece of software accompli ...
of software (often
JavaScript
JavaScript (), often abbreviated as JS, is a programming language that is one of the core technologies of the World Wide Web, alongside HTML and CSS. As of 2022, 98% of Website, websites use JavaScript on the Client (computing), client side ...
,
C and
assembly language
In computer programming, assembly language (or assembler language, or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as Assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence be ...
),
code injection
Code injection is the exploitation of a computer bug that is caused by processing invalid data. The injection is used by an attacker to introduce (or "inject") code into a vulnerable computer program and change the course of execution. The res ...
,
SQL injection
In computing, SQL injection is a code injection technique used to attack data-driven applications, in which malicious SQL statements are inserted into an entry field for execution (e.g. to dump the database contents to the attacker). SQL inj ...
s,
cross-site scripting
Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of security vulnerability that can be found in some web applications. XSS attacks enable attackers to inject client-side scripts into web pages viewed by other users. A cross-site scripting vulnerability may ...
,
exploits,
IP address spoofing
In computer networking, IP address spoofing or IP spoofing is the creation of Internet Protocol (IP) packets with a false source IP address, for the purpose of impersonating another computing system.
Background
The basic protocol for sending ...
,
forensics
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and crimina ...
, and other hacking techniques.
Wargames for preparedness
Wargames are also used as a method of
cyberwarfare preparedness.
The
NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence
NATO CCD COE, officially the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence ( et, italic=yes, K5 or ''NATO küberkaitsekoostöö keskus''), is one of NATO Centres of Excellence, located in Tallinn, Estonia. The centre was established on 14 ...
(CCDCOE) organizes an annual event, Locking Shields, which is an international live-fire cyber exercise.
The exercise challenges cyber security experts through real-time attacks in fictional scenarios and is used to develop skills in national IT defense strategies.
Additional applications
Wargames can be used to teach the basics of web attacks and web security, giving participants a better understanding of how attackers exploit security vulnerabilities.
Wargames are also used as a way to "stress test" an organization's response plan and serve as a drill to identify gaps in cyber disaster preparedness.
See also
*
Hackathon
A hackathon (also known as a hack day, hackfest, datathon or codefest; a portmanteau of hacking and marathon) is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. Th ...
- computer programming marathon
*
DEF CON
DEF CON (also written as DEFCON, Defcon or DC) is a hacker convention held annually in Las Vegas, Nevada. The first DEF CON took place in June 1993 and today many attendees at DEF CON include computer security professionals, journalists, lawyer ...
- largest hacker convention
*
Software Freedom Day
Software Freedom Day (SFD) is an annual worldwide celebration of Free Software organized by the Digital Freedom Foundation (DFF). SFD is a public education effort with the aim of increasing awareness of Free Software and its virtues, and enc ...
- Linux and Open Source event
*
Campus Party
Campus Party (CP) is a conference and hackathon.
Founded in 1997 as a technology festival and LAN party, the event was first held in Málaga, Spain, and has since been run in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador ...
- massive LAN Party
*
Cyberwarfare preparedness
* Capture the flag (cybersecurity)
References
{{Reflist
External links
WeChall– list of wargame websites
security.stackexchange.com- hacking competitions
CTFtime- worldwide CTF tracking site
Hacking (computer security)
Computer security
Cyberwarfare