Overview

Hack a Bit offers high school students the opportunity to learn to hack and break things in a safe ethical environment. The competition teaches bright young people how to make the world a safer place by fundamentally learning how hackers do what they do. Many competitions miss the fact that most young people don't have a background in this stuff and so Hack a Bit focuses on providing an educational track alongside the competition. If you are interested and motivated, you will be competitive!

Winners take home prize money (from a $5k pool) as well as gear, digital books, and vouchers from our sponsors. The winners (you!) also have the opportunity to connect with industry professionals who are desperately in need of technical expects.

Progression

Signup

Interested students can pre-register for the competition now!

For the competition year 2022, you must be at least 13 years of age on the first day of competition and may not be older than 18. All finalists will be verified prior to the last round. For more information on eligibility and terms of service please check out the signup section of the competition page for details. While the competition staff is looking into offering entry to teams, this first year will be limited to individual participation.

Evaluation
Qualifier
Final

2 Months - All Registered Participants

Open: 1200am PST, 1 November 2022

Close: 1159pm PST, 31 December 2022


The first round of competition is open to all registrants. This round will take place in an asynchronous testing environment. Questions in this phase of competition assess students across various conceptual areas of cybersecurity to determine broad competency. Scores from this round are used in determining selection to national finals. The first round will be open for approximately a month. Competitors will have 30 minutes to complete the test.

4 Weeks - All Registered Participants

Open: 0500pm PST, 27 January 2023

Close: 1200pm PST, 28 February 2023


Following the testing round, participants will to play an interactive capture the flag game where they solve technical challenges in a live environment. These challenges are focused across the same categories of technical discipline, however, they are hosted live and prove actual technical knowledge via hands-on execution of categories such as forensics, networking analysis and exploitation. All competitors will have the opportunity to participate in this round of competition and it will be live for approximately a month.

3 Days - Qualified Participants (~%25)

Open: 5:00pm PST, 19 May 2023

Close: 2:00pm PST, 21 May 2023


The last round of competition will be a synchronous attack/defense event. This is a live competition where candidates are required to defend their network from peers and keep services running while attacking others to capture resources live. There will also be some capture-the-flag challenges. Points are awarded based on flags captured and service uptime. This live event will run for approximately two days and the winners will receive the top prizes available as well as direct interface with employers that want them NOW!

Awards, Prizes & Advancement

Registration is $25 USD and ensures access to at least two rounds of competition with the possibility of advancement to finals depending on placement. Aside from the $5k USD prize pool, every competitor will receive the competition swag package. The competition sponsors are also graciously offering awesome prizes from their organizations such as hacking hardware, digital books, and even hacking lab vouchers. The top quarter of competitors will proceed to the finals round, meaning that there will be 250 seats advancing in the first year. These will be distributed based on events in the Discord server!

For more details on rules and exceptions, please read the rules.

PlacementAwardsPrize Eligibility
1st1$500
2nd1$250
3rd1$150
4th -> 10th7$75
11th -> 20th15$50
Cash prize breakout, top placements.