Pakistan’s National Cyber Emergency Response Team (National CERT) has launched “CTF Square,” an indigenously developed Capture the Flag (CTF) platform designed to strengthen cybersecurity learning, assessment, and practical skill development across the country’s digital ecosystem. The initiative is part of National CERT’s broader efforts to improve cyber resilience and build local cybersecurity capacity through hands-on technical training and simulation-based exercises.

The initiative is part of National CERT’s broader efforts to improve cyber resilience and build local cybersecurity capacity through hands-on technical training and simulation-based exercises.

According to National CERT, the platform provides a structured environment where students, cybersecurity professionals, researchers, and technology enthusiasts can practice and improve their skills through real-world cybersecurity challenges.

The organization said the platform is being continuously updated with challenges covering multiple areas, including web security, cryptography, digital forensics, reverse engineering, cloud security, and network defense.

National CERT has also invited academia, industry experts, and independent researchers to contribute high-quality challenges to the platform. Contributors will receive official recognition for their work.

Unlike traditional cybersecurity training platforms that mainly depend on virtual machine-based labs, CTF Square uses a lightweight and script-driven deployment model aimed at reducing infrastructure requirements and improving accessibility.

The platform allows users to run cybersecurity labs directly on their local systems without needing resource-intensive virtual environments. National CERT said the system combines dependencies, configurations, and execution logic into automated scripts, reducing system overhead while improving setup speed and usability for learners and event organizers.

Officials described the project as a major step toward building a production-ready and scalable cybersecurity training ecosystem aligned with modern technological requirements.

The platform also supports team-based exercises, live scoring systems, and practical simulations designed to strengthen incident response, threat detection, and ethical hacking skills.

The initiative is part of Pakistan’s wider cybersecurity and digital transformation agenda under the National Cyber Security Policy 2021 and other national cyber capacity-building programs.

National CERT encouraged cybersecurity enthusiasts to participate in challenges hosted on the platform and provide feedback to help improve and expand the system further.

The organization said the launch of CTF Square reflects Pakistan’s growing focus on indigenous technology development and cybersecurity preparedness as governments and businesses worldwide continue to face rising cyber threats, ransomware attacks, and data security concerns.

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