Building the UAE's longest-running national CTF program
From community roots to a national cybersecurity program. Building the next generation of UAE cyber talent across schools, universities, and professionals.
The Origin
Dubai Police is our first client. The relationship didn't start with a contract. It started in the community.
Dubai Police has a highly skilled cybersecurity team that has been active in the local cybersecurity community for years. We used to meet at community gatherings, working on projects together. Dubai Police had been running a small-scale CTF for the community. The idea evolved. The scope expanded. And when it came time to build something at national scale, CTF.ae was trusted to design, build, and host it.
The first edition launched in 2020. Six seasons later, it is the longest-running national CTF program in the UAE.
How It Evolved
Online Launch
First edition. Online format during COVID. Established the program structure and scoring platform.
Online Expansion
Expanded challenge categories and participant base. Platform refined across a second full season.
GITEX Global
First on-site edition. Hosted at the region's largest technology exhibition. The program goes physical.
World Police Summit
Multi-track format introduced. Schools, universities, and professionals competing in parallel for the first time.
World Police Summit
Continued growth across all three tracks.
Officers' Club
Physical OT city model introduced. IoT, OT, and AI exploitation challenges integrated with a scale replica of Dubai infrastructure.
The OT City Model
The 2025 edition introduced something we hadn't seen at any CTF before. A physical scale replica of Dubai, complete with working infrastructure: Burj Khalifa, the Downtown neighborhood, Dubai Airport, water desalination plants, and the floating bridge.
Participants solved IoT, OT, and AI challenges that were directly integrated with the physical model. Change the color of the Burj Khalifa lights. Shut down the airport radar. Open the floating bridge. Every exploit had a visible, real-world consequence on the model in front of them.
This is what happens when a CTF program runs for six years. The ambition scales with the trust.
Three Tracks
Schools
Introducing secondary and high school students to cybersecurity through accessible, gamified challenges designed to spark interest and build foundational skills.
Universities
Intermediate-level challenges for undergraduate and graduate students. A proving ground for the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
Professionals
Advanced challenges for working professionals. Realistic scenarios across web exploitation, reverse engineering, cryptography, OT, and AI.
Challenge Categories
Web Exploitation
Finding and exploiting vulnerabilities in web applications. Think: bypassing a login page by manipulating the URL, or extracting hidden data from a website's database.
Pwn
Taking control of programs by exploiting low-level software flaws. Participants might overflow a program's memory to execute their own code on a remote server.
Cryptography
Breaking codes and encrypted messages. Challenges range from cracking weak passwords to finding flaws in the encryption protecting sensitive communications.
Digital Forensics
Investigating digital evidence like a cyber detective. Recover deleted files from a hard drive image, analyze network traffic to find stolen data, or uncover hidden messages in photos.
Reverse Engineering
Taking apart compiled software to understand how it works. Participants disassemble programs to find hidden passwords, secret keys, or intentional backdoors.
AI Hacking
Tricking and manipulating AI systems. Craft inputs that fool an image classifier, jailbreak a language model, or extract training data from a machine learning system.
OT Hacking
Attacking operational technology that controls physical systems. In the 2025 edition, this meant shutting down airport radar or changing the Burj Khalifa lights on the physical model.
The Mission
Dubai Police's goal has always been clear: cyber crime awareness and raising a new generation that practices cybersecurity in safe environments. The CTF program is how that vision becomes operational. Every season, hundreds of students and professionals get hands-on experience with real attack techniques in a controlled setting. The skills are real. The environment is safe. The pipeline into the workforce is direct.
"CTF.ae has been an essential technical partner in our mission to build cybersecurity awareness across all segments of society. Together, we share a vision of preparing the next generation to defend our digital infrastructure."
Brigadier Saeed Al Hajri, Director of the General Department of Criminal Investigation, Dubai Police