A cybersecurity high school student competition designed by students, for students.
CanHack is the Canadian category of picoCTF, a free online cybersecurity competition developed and run by Carnegie Mellon University. The game features a series of digital challenges based on unique storylines.
The CanHack 2022 competition will run from March 15th - March 29th 2022
Register below!  
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About CanHack
In today’s digital world, understanding cybersecurity matters more now than ever before. The DMZ at Ryerson University, in partnership with the Royal Bank of Canada, have come together to launch CanHack - a cybersecurity student competition. Participants will learn critical computer security skills, work with experts in the field and have an opportunity to win up to $16,250 in cash prizes for both themselves and the school they attend!Participants must reverse engineer, break, hack, decrypt, or do whatever it takes to solve the problem statement. At the end of the challenge, students will walk away with a basic understanding of cybersecurity systems and:
How to register
For Teachers/ Supervisors
Registering their class(es)
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STEP 1.Sign up for CanHack here
(This ensures you can win the prizes!) -
STEP 2.Register an account on PicoCTF. After creating an account, go to the compete tab and sign up for the picoCTF 2022 competition.
(This is where the game will be played!) -
STEP 3.Starting February 1st, teachers can assign students to classrooms. In the classroom page, you can view the progress of your students.
Pro-tip: Visit our resource guide on how-to on how-to complete this step. -
STEP 4.Collect all usernames and teams that your students will be using on the PicoCTF platform and fill out this excel template here.
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STEP 5.Upload the excel sheet with the team names and usernames here.
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STEP 6.For support with the challenge from industry mentors, you and your students can follow along on the official PicoCTF discord server or send an email to: Naveed Tagari
For Students
Registering individually
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STEP 1.Sign up for CanHack here
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STEP 2.Tell your teacher about Canhack and have them register as your supervisor here!
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STEP 3.Register an account on PicoCTF. After creating an account, go to the compete tab and sign up for the picoCTF 2022 competition.
This must be done for all of your team members! -
STEP 4.Have one member from your team inform your teacher or supervisor of your PicoCTF usernames and team name.
For all other information and FAQs
Be sure to read our Resource Guide!
Prizes for top 3 teams

Prizes for top 3 schools

Additional Prize

*Winning this prize does not disqualify a team from other prize pools
Prizes
CanHack Award Badges:
If over $15,000 in prizes wasn’t enough, the DMZ is excited to award students with digital badges! Digital badges allow students to share the completion of their training in cyber security from us on their social media channels, resumes and on college/university applications!
These never expiring digital badges are a visual representation of a student’s completion of CanHack workshops and quiz completions with a passing grade. In order to receive a badge, students must: register for and complete the CanHack competition
Best part of all? Badges are endorsed by Carnegie Mellon University's Security and Privacy Research Institute!
Awards criteria
In order to participate students must adhere to the following criteria:
- Be enrolled at a Canadian high school
- Apply individually or with a team consisting of no more than five students
- Must register with a teacher or adult supervisor
There is no fee to participate, no experience required and students can sign up to compete until March 14th 2022. There is no limit to the number of teams that can represent a single school, and members do not have to attend the same school.
*Students and teams that do not meet these requirements can still participate, but will not be eligible to win contest prizes. Please see competition rules for full details.
Workshops
Asynchronous workshops and learning content will be made available for all students through our resource hub. Workshops include:
WEB SECURITY
CRYPTOGRAPHY
COMPUTER FORENSICS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
BINARY EXPLOITATION
AND MUCH MORE!
4 sessions about cyber security will be held live on Youtube where students will hear from industry experts
See below for full dates:
Date | Subject |
---|---|
Women in Tech Panel | December 8th |
Jobs in Cyber Panel | January 19th |
Women in Cyber | February 16th |
CanHack Launch Event | March 9th 2022 |
CanHack Competition | March 15th - 29th |
CanHack Awards Ceremony | April 2022 |
Once you are registered for CanHack 2022 you will receive invitations to the panels noted above!
Program Timeline
February 2022:
  Registration opens for PicoCTF
March 2022:
  CanHack Challenge Launch Event
March 2022:
  PicoCTF 2022 challenge
April 2022:
  CanHack Awards Ceremony
Have a question?
Naveed Tagari
Strategic Programs SpecialistCanHack Newsletter
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