“A strong team doesn’t simply compete – it’ll learn, adapt, and dominate.”
How to Form a Cybersecurity Team
CTF (Capture the Flag) CTFs are competitive challenges that emulate real-life security issues. You’ll be able to uniquely join as a solo player or as part of a team; however, the most formidable players come out on top as teams.
A solidly built CTF team:
- Works faster with group problem solving
- Wins more problems challenges collaboratively
- Combines different skills
Don’t worry about any of the above goals just yet, we will outline them step by step in this guide.
Complete Your CTF Team in 7 Steps
- Understand key skill indicators in CTFs
- Identify and recruit knowledgeable and curious new members
- Assign clear and flexible roles along with tools
- Train together on a regular basis
- Take Compete Smart Notes and create environments for them to share
- Coordinated intelligent competition
- Open each CTF and learn new lessons to grow from
Step 1: Know what a CTF Team Has
Create a stand out CTF team by first checking off the following:
Skill Diversity
Every CTF category requires a specific mindset alongside a set of tools, optimally a combination of all of them. Your team composition should be, at the very least:
- Forget Studies – SQLi, the authentication bypass type XSS, Proxy SSRF
- Reverse Engineering Static & Dynamic Binary Analysis
- Pwn (Binary Exploitation) Buffer Overflow, Format String Attacks
- Forensics Analyzing Memory Dumps, PCAP, & Image Hiding (Steganography)
- Misc/OSINT/Puzzles Open-source Intelligence, Logic, & Steganography
Tool Familiarity
Strong teams showcase diversed fluency with:
- Burp Suite, Ghidra, Wireshark, CyberChef
- Python, Bash, pwntools
- Docker, VM setup, Linux basics
Step 2: Identify & Recruit Members
Ideal candidates exhibit the following characteristics:
- Passionate about Cybersecurity
- Inquisitive and Self Learners
- Team-player, not competitive internally
- Practice and share knowledge about different disciplines, constantly
Where to Look for Team Members:
- University or college clubs Cybersec, Hacking, and Linux Groups
- Other online communities Reddit r/NetsecStudents, Discord Servers, HackTheBox Forums
- Conferences, or Local Meetups, BSides, and DEFCON Groups
- Coding friends interested in the hacking world
Traits to Avoid Identifying the Wrong Candidate
- Egotistical lone wolves
- Lousy communicators
- Non-explainers
Step 3: Build the Team Core
If you have 3-6 people, do this:
Fill in Tentative Roles
Roles should focus. Start from the core:
Role Description
Team Leader Oversee Comms & Coordinate Challenges
Web Specialist CMS & Scripting Issues in the web domain
Reverser: binary cracking using Ghidra/IDA
Crypto Analyst: math or crypto puzzles
Forensic Expert: PCAP, memory analysis, file carving
Researcher/Analyst: OSINT, scripting, and general note-taking
Reminder: One person can perform multiple roles especially in the beginning.
Set Up Communication:
– Discord or Slack – Real-time team chat
– GitHub repo – Custom tools/scripts
– Trello/Notion – Tasks assignment and ideas sharing
– Google Docs – Notes & collaborative writeups
Step 4: Train Together
The best teams train before competing
Run Weekly Practice Sessions
Pick 1-2 challenges per week and solve them as a group. Rotate categories. Discuss:
– What worked
– What didn’t
– Tools used
– How to automate next time
These Platforms are Recommended: SecuriumX
Step 5: Prepare the Team Setup
Before your first real CTF, be ready:
1. Tech Environment:
– Ops Systems: Kali/Parrot OS VMs
– Shared drive: GDrive/Dropbox
– Required tools: Sous: Burp, Ghidra, pwntools, WireShark, CyberChef
2. Notes & Knowledge Base:
Set a repo/wiki for:
– CTF category cheatsheets
– Links to past writeups
– Payload lists: SQLi, XSS
– Encoder/decoder scripts
3. Decide flag submission rules:
In most CTF’s, only one person submits the flag.
Clearly define expectations for that role. Ensure you clarify:
– Who is responsible for logging which challenges?
– How to synchronize the status if split into subgroups?
Step 6: Compete Smart
As you enter your first competition: Instruction is as follows:
Divide and Conquer
– Assign categories based on strengths
– Pair new with old
– Solve simple problems to build confidence before moving on to the more complex challenges
Stay Synchronized
Utilize:
– Shared live doc (Google Sheet) to track:
– Challenge name
– Who’s solving
– Status: not started, in progress, solved
– Discord threads per challenge
Document Everything
Even if you did not achieve a desired outcome for a challenge, write it down somewhere. Why?
– Because you will be able to learn from it later
– It improves team knowledge
– Claims filed in public forums improve credibility
Step 7: Reflect and Grow
After the CTF:
Do a Team Retrospective:
Ask:
– What were our strongest categories?
– Where did we waste time blindly and repeat efforts?
– What new skills did we acquire?
Create a Continuous Learning Cycle:
– Assign team members to focus on defensive areas
– Organize internal mini-CTFs
– Make public claims on your writeups in picoCTF forums and GitHub
Bonus Tips to Stay Ahead
– Have 1 person spearhead scripting: automates tedious patches
– Design your own tools like flag checkers or brute-forcers
Rotate team lead roles – fosters leadership and brings in new concepts“
Analyze tactics of leading CTF teams – follow their write ups on CTFtime.org“
Analyze the progression over several months: score fluctuations, weaknesses, and strengths“
Final Thoughts
There’s no need for you to be an almighty hacker to establish a CTF team. All you really require is inquisitiveness, a couple of friends who are deeply devoted, and a good learning environment.
So why not begin with simple objectives? Train systematically, document your progress as a team, and encourage one another. The journey to victory starts with your first win, and in no time you’ll find yourself climbing the CTFtime leaderboard. Other teams stack envy as they wish they could join your team.
