Workshop on

“CTF & Offensive Security for Risk Management Awareness”

Over the past years, Capture-The-Flag (CTF) competitions have proven to be a powerful educational tool to train the next generation of cybersecurity professionals.

Through the hands-on, offensive approach typical of CTFs, participants gain a deeper understanding of real-world vulnerabilities, enhance their analytical mindset, and strengthen risk awareness and skills for modern cyber defense and management.

The “CTF & Offensive Security for Risk Management Awareness” workshop aims to bring together researchers, teachers, students, CTF players, and anyone willing to know more about the gamification of cybersecurity training to share experiences, methodologies, and tools that demonstrate how offensive training and CTF-based learning can be integrated into cyber risk management and awareness programs.

About the event (provisional outline)

The workshop will accommodate, in addition to the talks selected with the present CFP, keynote speakers talks, expert panels, and possibly practical demonstrations, extending in the morning and early afternoon.

There is no registration fee. Attendees other than the speakers are welcome on a first-register-first-accepted basis - space is limited. Coffee and lunch breaks are provided.

Because of the limited number of seats available, registration is mandatory. Failing to register in advance may prevent attendance.

Call for Presentations

We invite speakers to submit proposals for talks, demonstrations, or experience reports related to (but not limited to) the following topics:

• CTFs as training tools for offensive and defensive cybersecurity
• Red teaming, blue teaming, and purple teaming
• Design and deployment of CTF infrastructures and learning platforms
• Bridging CTF experience to enterprise-level risk management practices
• Academic, corporate, or public CTF initiatives: lessons learned
• Real-world case studies of offensive training impact

Presentations may vary in length according to the speaker’s preference. By default, each talk will be allocated a 20-minute slot (including Q&A), but speakers are welcome to indicate a preferred duration in their submission. The final schedule will be arranged based on the requested times and overall program balance.

Submission Guidelines

Please submit a short abstract to: ctf-workshop-ulisse-2025@live.unibo.it with the subject line: [CFP Workshop CTF 2025] followed by the title of your talk.

The submission should include:

• Title of the talk
• Full name(s) of the speaker(s)
• Affiliation and short bio
• Description and (optionally) an outline of the talk
• (Optional) CTF team affiliation