Keynote: Learn by Hacking: How to Run a 2,500 Node Kubernetes CTF - Andrew Martin & Andrés Vega

TAG Security has run a CTF at Cloud Native Security events since 2020, but with a twist: instead of dastardly black hat hackers duelling for the title of Ultimate Kuberninja, we’ve focused on helping everybody to hack, teaching approachable security principles to increase the industry’s level of cloud native security expertise in novel and engaging ways. In this talk, Andrés and Andy detail their learnings, techniques, and often last-minute fixes needed to run Kubernetes CTFs with thousands of nodes, hundreds of cloud native hackers, and buckets of coffee. During these distributed orchestration challenges the events have seen servers burned, scenarios shredded, and authentication bypassed in all sorts of nefarious ways by the willing and able players of the game. In this talk we detail our experience and discuss:

• How to build a tumultuous and exciting CTF challenge
• Why hands-on practice is the best way to ingrain security concepts
• When automating a chaotic cluster pipeline doesn't scale
• Why points don’t always win prizes
• And how sharing knowledge helps us grow together