So Close Yet So Far: Hack@10 CTF Finals

“So close yet so far.”

That was what my senior said after the final ranking for the Hack@10 CTF Finals was announced.

After around six hours of competing, my team finished in sixth place among 25 teams in the final round. Reaching the finals was already an achievement, but being so close to a higher placement made the result feel slightly painful.

The competition was intense. We had to divide the challenges between team members, investigate different files, test ideas, share findings, and decide when to continue working on a challenge or move to another one.

One of the challenges affected me more than I expected.

I spent a long time trying to solve it and became increasingly frustrated when none of my approaches worked. Even after returning home, I kept thinking about what I might have missed. I could not properly rest because my mind was still replaying the challenge.

CTFs can sometimes feel like that.

When you are close to solving something, it becomes difficult to stop. Every new clue makes you believe the solution is only one more step away. However, repeatedly forcing the same approach can also waste time and affect your confidence.

One of my friends reminded me that every unpleasant situation has a positive side, a silver lining in every cloud.

That reminder helped me look at the competition differently. Instead of only focusing on the challenge that I could not solve, I began appreciating the challenges that we did solve, the teamwork throughout the event, and the fact that we had qualified for the final round.

The competition taught me several things:

• Do not let one challenge consume the entire competition
• Ask teammates for a fresh perspective
• Take a short break when frustration affects your thinking
• Keep track of partial findings
• Know when to move on
• Remember that placement is not the only measurement of progress

I would like to deeply thank my teammates, Abdul Haziq and Nur Najihah, for the stressful but enjoyable experience. I also want to thank Universiti Tenaga Nasional for organizing the competition.

Congratulations to the winning teams, especially Hybread and Hongymb. Their consistency and ability to collect flags throughout the competition were impressive.

Sixth place may not have been the result we hoped for, but the experience taught me more than a comfortable victory probably would have.

Hack@10 CTF Finals gallery