The following specifies the Rules of Engagement (RoE) each member (hacker) partaking in the event must adhere to.

Eligibility and Registration:

• Registration is open to Canadian post-secondary students (including abroad) or international students in a Canadian post-secondary school.
• Proof of enrollment (with a student ID) is necessary upon entry to the competition.
• Registration for the event will occur in two separate steps:
1. An initial registration where participants enter their information on our registration system - dates announced on event web page.
2. A secondary confirmation step where prior-registered participants confirm their desire to attend the event. Emails will be sent to registrants towards the end of January with confirmation steps.

Team Composition:

• Teams are composed of 2 - 4 members; each member must be an eligible registrant (see Eligibility and Registration for details).
• Team construction will be available upon registration.
• There are no “solo” teams of one member.

Start and End Times:

• The event begins March 2nd, 2024 and ends on the evening on March 3rd. All times are in reference to Eastern Standard Time (EST).
• Official CTF start times will be available on the morning of March 2nd in a distributed Event Schedule, prior to the opening ceremony.
• A portion of CTF challenges will be available on the first challenge day, while an additional subset will be unveiled on the second day. 
• Submissions will have a strict closing time determined by the Event Schedule.

Scoring System:

• Challenges will be scored in terms of their difficulty.
• Teams will be ranked by the scores associated to the number of keys discovered across the provided CTF challenges.
• In the case of a tie-breaker, the first team to reach the tie-score will be the victor.

Flag Submission:

• Teams will submit flags through the CTFd platform.

Fair Play:

• Only registered members of the event are permitted to partake in the problem solving and submission of events. 
• A team is not allowed to share insights, findings, solutions and flags with other teams, and will be immediately disqualified under such conditions.

Reporting Issues:

• A Discord channel will be available during the event for reporting CTF-related issues, not limited to:
• Challenge clarifications
• Scoring discrepancies
• Technical problems (e.g., submission issues)
• Organizers can be reached through Discord for any non-technical concerns, like sleeping arrangements, food allergies, etc.
• A hotline number will be available for emergency situations and provided at event opening.

Infrastructure Limitations:

• Any attempt to attack or probe event infrastructure, including services hosting online challenges, networks and devices utilized to access the internet, is strictly prohibited. An individual caught doing so will have their entire team disqualified.

Code of Conduct:

• Participants must maintain an air of respect towards other participants, organizers, sponsors, volunteers, and university staff. Failure to do so will lead to personal disqualification.
• The event will not tolerate any form of harassment - be it verbal or otherwise - and will lead to personal disqualification.
• No form of taunting, ridicule, or belittling will be tolerated, and will lead to personal disqualification.
  
  

Prizes and Awards:

• 1st place team will receive $2,000 CAD, per team member.
• 2nd place team will receive $1,250 CAD, per team member.
• 3rd place team will receive $750 CAD, per team member.
• Proof of enrollment at a post-secondary institution will be required to both enter the event, and claim prizes.
  

Legal and Ethical Considerations:

• Involvement in illegal activities, such as (non-exhaustively) smoking, using drugs, and drinking on location is not permitted and will result in immediate disqualification.
• Hacking of any university infrastructure (routers, access points, student and lab computers, etc.), as well as other participant devices is strictly prohibited.

Updates and Communication:

• Any spurious changes to the event will be announced primarily through Discord, as the layout of the event will allow hackers to disperse. Volunteers will assist by verbally spreading the word to reserved rooms.