In 2024 I had the privilege of coaching teams from Singapore’s Home Team Science and Technology Agency (HTX) as they prepared for, and competed at, DEF CON 32 in Las Vegas, the world’s largest hacking conference.
The results speak for themselves: one team took 3rd place in their CTF village competition, and the Red Team Village team finished 5th out of 85 teams. HTX wrote about the journey in their own feature, Strong partnership lets HTX shine at DEF CON 32.
The engagement grew out of the partnership between SANS and HTX signed in late 2023: a training roadmap combining SANS courses, weekly CTF participation, a preparatory class, and online prep sessions where I provided coaching in the run-up to the event.
What a coach actually does
The main goal of a coach is to guide, develop and support the team so they reach their full potential. In a CTF setting, that’s less about being the best hacker in the room and more about making sure the room works. The most important parts of the job:
- Coordinate. Someone has to keep the machine running so the players can stay heads-down on challenges.
- Get the full challenge overview. Early on, map out every challenge and category so the team attacks the board deliberately instead of randomly.
- Assign challenges. Match challenges to people’s strengths, and to what they need to grow.
- Make being stuck visible. Involve the team in documenting where they’re stuck. A blocker that’s written down can be picked up by someone else; a silent one just burns clock.
- Follow up on Discord. Continuous check-ins keep momentum between sessions and during the event itself.
- Take notes per challenge category. Track each category and the problems to solve, so patterns emerge and nothing falls through the cracks.
- Sit down with the hard ones. Work the harder challenges yourself so that when the team gets to them, you can help push through rather than watch them stall.
What stood out about the HTX teams was that, despite some initial nervousness, everyone was eager to engage with the challenges and, most importantly, learn and push their limits. That attitude is what turns a training roadmap into a podium finish.