CTF for education
Abstract
In this paper, we take a close look at how CTF can be used in cybersecurity education. We divide the CTF competitions into four different categories, which are attack-based CTFs, defense-based CTFs, jeopardy CTFs and gamified and wargames CTFs. We start our analysis by summarizing the main characteristics of different CTF types. We then compare them with each other in both learning objectives and other aspects like accessibility. We conclude that combining all four CTF formats can help participants build one's cybersecurity knowledge. By doing that, we hope that our findings will provide some useful insights for future CTF educators.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Information and Cyber Security
Teaching and Learning Programming
Educational Games and Gamification
Publication details
- Journal / source
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Publication date
- 24 January 2026
- Document type
- Preprint