My reflections on a global achievement
Within the last two weeks, our team placed first in the world in a hacking competition, and I want to talk a little bit about it as well as what I’ve learned throughout this experience!
About the competition
The Collegiate Penetration Testing Competition (CPTC) is essentially a competition where teams conduct a penetration test and generate a report for a client within a finite amount of time. It’s an absolute blast—maybe a little stressful at times—but a great time overall.
Last year, I joined the CPTC team to represent my school, Dakota State University, and we’ve had some great wins!
- From November 1-3, we traveled to Cookeville, Tennessee, to compete in regionals, where we placed 2nd in our region!
- From January 17-20, we went to Rochester, New York, to compete in globals, where we placed 1st in the world!
Not only are we CPTC world champion hackers, but we also won this year’s “Most Fire Memes Award,” which was hilarious to see! This was an absolutely unreal experience, and I’m so happy I was able to make these memories with my amazing teammates.
Given all of this, I just wanted to share a few reflections based on my unique experience, particularly in regards to putting myself out there and celebrating my achievements.
Just get started, nobody cares
It sounds harsh, but I promise it’s not!
For years, I was too critical of my own work which kept me from putting myself out there. No matter what I was doing, I stuck to my own projects and quietly built up my skills. While I was still growing and challenging myself, I wasn’t contributing or sharing my work with the world.
In recent years, I’ve made an effort to get more involved through small accomplishments. Each step was a challenge to put something—anything—out there, whether it was good or not.
Learning about the spotlight effect helped me a lot with this.
The spotlight effect is the tendency to overestimate how much others notice your flaws and mistakes. But the truth is, everyone is too focused on their own lives to scrutinize yours.
So just get started. Nobody is as critical of you as you are, so don’t let that stop you from doing what you want. Nobody cares—use that to your advantage.
Since then, I’ve rebuilt my graphics portfolio, started a YouTube channel and newsletter, participated in numerous competitions, led two clubs on campus, given countless presentations on hacking, and more.
It’s all about putting yourself out there, trying new things, making connections, and learning as you go. Celebrate the small wins, learn from the failures, and see what sticks! Don’t worry about being perfect, just enjoy the process.
Give yourself some credit
For those who know me pretty well, I love everything cybersecurity—particularly offensive security—and I’ve been working in the industry as a penetration tester for close to two years now.
My job requires us to be jack-of-all-trades, including reconnaissance, phishing, web exploitation, Active Directory, physical security, social engineering, and more.
At CPTC, I focused on my key strengths—Active Directory and Windows exploitation—and was able to obtain six separate paths to domain administrator, each resulting in network-wide compromise.
Despite knowing what I’m capable of, I’d be lying if I said I never felt insecure about my abilities. I still get imposter syndrome, and I sometimes worry about “not knowing enough” when I’m competing, doing engagements, or presenting.
The primary way I’ve learned to combat these insecurities and uncertainties is to focus on being kinder to myself. By looking at and documenting the positives—commitment, progress, and achievements—I can reinforce a positive outlook that allows me to recognize what I’m doing well while still being aware of what I need to improve on.
Furthermore, this win was incredibly reassuring, and I had the opportunity to compare and “benchmark” my findings to other teams. I can confidently say our exploit paths were much more advanced and thorough, but I don’t mean this in a boastful way.
Recognizing your strengths shouldn’t be about ego or compensation, but rather a means of giving yourself permission to celebrate your progress in an objective way.
Don’t be afraid to give yourself some credit, be kind to yourself, and celebrate your wins, big and small.