Hello everyone! Given the lack of blog posts recently I decided to write a short one (this one) telling you all what I've been up to and why the slowdown in content recently.
First and foremost, I started classes again about a month ago so I started having less time for other stuff, sadly. This also caused some motivation issues due to the electives I ended up enrolling in, but I think I mostly broke through. The pandemic really isn't helping in the motivation department as well, since last semester and vacations all felt like a clumped together mess, and this semester also feels a bit like it too - I think my brain doesn't even feel like classes have started already.
Furthermore, I started job hunting, given that this is my last year in my Integrated MSc. If someone knows some good jobs/companies in infosec I would highly appreciate if you could send them my way! :) I'm aiming for an EU-based first job, since I would like to at least work abroad for some time, to get some experience and whatnot.
So, what have I been up to? Several things, despite the slowdown! I finally started trying out Cloudflare and have set it up for my website. It seems like a pretty cool service especially given what it offers free of charge!
I also started thinking about Hacktoberfest, as I have contributed to it in the past years. Sadly this year the rules have changed (I agree with the reason, mind you, as I had no idea of the burden it was for maintainers) and it does not seem like there are a lot of "interesting" repos to contribute to. I'll put a pin in that for now since I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to getting to know some random project at the moment, but I'll try and see if I can squeeze some contributions in.
My HTB activity has slowed down to a halt and I have already missed some box launches and retires. I've not made writeups for at least Blunder and Cache, which were boxes I had solved that were retired. Hopefully in a couple months I'll have more time to go back to hacking, especially given that some new Linux boxes have been popping up! I hope to at least make time for creating a writeup for Intense when it gets retired, given it was my first Hard box.
Finally, one of the major reasons for the slowdown recently: I am involved in organizing a CTF for SINF 2020 almost completely by myself! I'm in charge of creating all of the challenges and have to manage all the infrastructure mostly on my own. The website is already live at ctf.sinf.pt and I think the registrations will be opening soon (TM), along with more info. I can't say much more for now but I'm super thrilled to be organizing this, as it has been plenty of work but also a great learning experience!
Oh and about CTF participation: I participated in e-Jornadas 2020 CTF by CERT RCTS this last week with some other folks. Sadly I don't think I'll be making any kind of writeup since I didn't really like the CTF (not my kind of format and most challenges were wayyy too guessy for me) and I also didn't solve any challenge completely on my own.
Next weekend I'll attempt to make some time to participate in Syskron Security CTF 2020, which looks pretty cool and you should also check out :)
That's about it for now! Thanks for "catching up" with me!
And as always: thanks for reading!