NCO Contest

National Cybersecurity Olympiad (NCO) 2025
19 April 2025

 

NCO Onsite Contest Details:

• Date: 19 April 2025
• Time: 09:00 AM to 01:00 PM (4-hour continuous contest)
• Venue: COM3 – Multi Purpose Halls, School of Computing, NUS (11 Research Link, Singapore 119391)
• Format: Multiple-choice questions (MCQ), and CTF format challenges
• Duration: 4-hour continuous contest.
• Contest Platform: https://nco2025.ctfd.io/ [Account and Login credentials shared to the respective students]
• Attire: School Uniforms are mandatory.
• Please note that this NCO contest is only for Singapore school students.

Rules/Format:

• Students must bring their own laptops for the contest. Students are allowed to use only one laptop (device) during the contest. The use of multiple devices during the contest is not permitted.
• Bring your School ID or NRIC for identity verification.
• The contest is open-book – you may use any online resources or tools. However, you must not discuss the questions with anyone else during the contest.
• Internet access is required during the contest. Students can connect to NUS Wi-Fi; connection details will be provided before the contest.
• Students are not permitted to take the NCO contest outside the designated contest venue. This NCO contest must be taken strictly within the contest venue (COM3-MPH).
• Any updates to the contest format will be communicated in advance.

NCO Training Sessions:

• Date: 05 & 12 April 2025
• Time: 09:00 AM to 05:00 PM
• Format: Online Training.
• Training partner: Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT).
• Additional Resources: Additional training videos from NUS were shared to the respective students.

NCO Training Topics:

Date & Time	Topics covered	Trainer
Session 1 Training: 5 April, 9am – 5pm	Intro to Linux Intro to Python Intro to Data Science	Centre for Strategic Infocomm Technologies (CSIT), Singapore
Session 2 Training: 12 April, 9am – 5pm	Intro to RE, Forensics and Pwn

 

Additional Training Materials:

Format:	Topics:	Trainer
Pre-Recorded Training Videos	Cryptography Web Exploitation	National University of Singapore

 

NCO Contest Programme: 19 April 2025

19 April 2025	National Cybersecurity Olympiad (NCO) Programme:
08:00 AM – 08:30 AM	Onsite Registration
08:30 AM - 09:00 AM	Briefing
09:00 AM – 01:00 PM	CTF Contest – 4 hours continuous
01:00 PM – 03:00 PM	Lunch + Networking*
03:00 PM – 03:30 PM	CSA Talk - Ms. Karen Quek, Senior Assistant Director (Talent Acquisition & Branding), CSA
03:30 PM – 04:00 PM	DIS Talk - Mr Chiou Zi Lie, Career Consultant, DIS Recruitment Centre
04:00 PM – 04:30 PM	CSIT Talk - Mr. Sam Chew, Deputy Director, Partnerships & Branding, CSIT
04:30 PM - 04:45 PM	Short Break
04:45 PM – 05:30 PM	Awards and Closing Ceremony
*NCO/ICO Sponsors will set up the physical booth for engagement and networking with participants

 

Prerequisite/Knowledge Requirements:

To effectively participate in the NCO onsite contest, students are encouraged to attend the training sessions and have a basic understanding of Python and C programming, particularly in the following areas:

Python Programming:

• Basic concepts: Variables, Data Types, Conditional Statements, Loops, File I/O, OOP, Exception Handling
• Network libraries: Requests, Socket, Scapy, Paramiko, Socket.IO, HTTPx, PyCurl
• Cryptography libraries: SSL, Cryptography, PyCrypto, PyCryptodome, Hashlib, PyNaCl
• Penetration testing libraries: Impacket, Python-nmap, Pwntools, BeautifulSoup

C Programming:

• Basic syntax and structure, Data types, Memory management, Control structures, Functions, Pointers & Arrays
• File I/O, Bitwise operations, Buffer overflows, Structs & Typedefs, Assembly & System Calls, Debugging tools (optional)
• Students are encouraged to explore any additional resources they find useful beyond NCL’s materials.

The online qualifier contest will be based on the above topics but is not limited to them. Students should aim to build a strong foundational understanding of cybersecurity concepts to perform well.

Client Device Requirements for the Contest:

General Requirements:

• Each participant should have access to a device that is able to access internet.

This device should have the following capabilities.

Supported Operating Systems (either one of the following):

• Windows: Windows 10 or higher
• Mac: macOS 12 (Monterey) or higher
• Linux: Ubuntu 20+, Debian 10+

Browser Requirements:

• A web browser is required to access the contest platform. Supported browsers include (but not limited to):
• Google Chrome
• Firefox 80+
• Opera
• Microsoft Edge 17+

SSH Client (Optional):

• Some challenges may require SSH access to a cloud instance. Participants can use the ssh command line or install one of the following SSH clients:
• PuTTY: https://www.putty.org/
• MobaXterm: https://mobaxterm.mobatek.net/download.html

Other Tools/Packages/Software:

Participants are recommended to install the following tools (prior to the contest) to complete certain challenges:

• Proton VPN: https://protonvpn.com/download (Students must install this VPN beforehand, as some challenges require a VPN connection to complete. This VPN is recommended because it has been tested and works on devices connected to the NUS guest Wi-Fi).
• Python:  https://www.python.org/downloads/
• GCC (GNU Compiler Collection): https://gcc.gnu.org/install/
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (for Windows users): Installation guide: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/wsl/install
• Wireshark: https://www.wireshark.org/download.html