Frequently Asked Questions Please note: We cannot help you secure ...
Frequently Asked Questions
Please note: We cannot help you secure your boxes, change passwords on your boxes or answer questions related to the software challenges. Please remember Google is your friend in these situations.
1. What are the basic goals of the competition? a. During the final competition, contestants will be scored on their ability to administer the following four essential skills: i. Maintenance of critical services ii. Removing vulnerabilities and hardening systems iii. Completing and submitting answers for Forensics exercises 2. How do you gain points beyond repairing vulnerabilities? a. Vulnerability points are rewarded upon mitigation/repair of each vulnerability. Once the vulnerability is repaired, you will begin gaining points for maintaining the health of each vulnerability you’ve mitigated. However, if you were to “break” or “re-engage” the vulnerability by another action, you will discontinue to receive health points for that vulnerability until you repair it again. b. You also gain points by repairing services that are being monitored. Typically these are critical services associated with the purpose of the system. 3. Can I implement the Windows Firewall on the VMs during the competition? a. No. Do not activate any Firewalls during the competition. This may prevent the CyberNEXS client on the VM from communicating with the server and submitting scoring information. 4. Are we allowed to block RDP Access or SSH access to the VMs? a. No. You are not allowed to block RDP or SSH from any of the VMs. 5. Can we install an updated version of the VMware Toolkit on the VMs? a. Yes. You can install the VMware toolkit if needed. It will not affect the scoring or communication between the VM and the Scoring Server.
1 Frequently Asked Questions www.leidos.com/cybersecurity/solutions/CyberNEXS
6. My zip password does not work. a. Please ask your team captains, coaches or mentors to verify your zipped password from the Startx email that was sent to them. 7. How do I check my MD5 Hash? a. Please download the document on the event page for specific instructions 8. My virtual machine will not connect to the network, but host computer does. a. Check and ensure your virtual machine is set for NAT. You can find instructions on the event page 9. I am having problems with registration of the virtual machine. a. Please check the webpage for the instructions on how to troubleshoot your virtual machine registration for Windows and Linux b. Also, check and make sure you did not turn on any firewalls. 10. I cannot remember my password I created at registration on the CyberNEXS webpage a. We CANNOT retrieve passwords. You will need to contact the help desk for further instructions. 11. My virtual machine stopped checking in according to Get My Status a. Stop and start the cybernexs services. i. In Windows you can go under computer management, then services, open the service and stop or start ii. In Linux open terminal and type service cybernexs stop or service cybernexs start 12. For the Forensics round, should I be concerned that my points are not being counted if my ticket still indicates “Open”? a. No. Tickets for forensics are automatically scored by the scoring engine and will not be reviewed by the White Team until after the competition ends. The tickets will indicate “Open” for the duration of the challenge, but each ticket is being reviewed by the server for point value. After the competition ends, the White Team will manually review all submitted tickets to ensure all point values were counted for all answers.
2 Frequently Asked Questions www.leidos.com/cybersecurity/solutions/CyberNEXS
13. How are scores actually calculated? a. Please refer to the separate document titled Understanding Scoring for a more detailed explanation. 14. If you have any further issues, please ensure have read through and utilized the documentation provided to you. If you still have problems, please contact the CyberNEXS Help Desk
Email: [email protected]
3 Frequently Asked Questions www.leidos.com/cybersecurity/solutions/CyberNEXS
Please note: We cannot help you secure your boxes, change passwords on your boxes or answer questions related to the software challenges. Please remember Google is your friend in these situations.
1. What are the basic goals of the competition? a. During the final competition, contestants will be scored on their ability to administer the following four essential skills: i. Maintenance of critical services ii. Removing vulnerabilities and hardening systems iii. Completing and submitting answers for Forensics exercises 2. How do you gain points beyond repairing vulnerabilities? a. Vulnerability points are rewarded upon mitigation/repair of each vulnerability. Once the vulnerability is repaired, you will begin gaining points for maintaining the health of each vulnerability you’ve mitigated. However, if you were to “break” or “re-engage” the vulnerability by another action, you will discontinue to receive health points for that vulnerability until you repair it again. b. You also gain points by repairing services that are being monitored. Typically these are critical services associated with the purpose of the system. 3. Can I implement the Windows Firewall on the VMs during the competition? a. No. Do not activate any Firewalls during the competition. This may prevent the CyberNEXS client on the VM from communicating with the server and submitting scoring information. 4. Are we allowed to block RDP Access or SSH access to the VMs? a. No. You are not allowed to block RDP or SSH from any of the VMs. 5. Can we install an updated version of the VMware Toolkit on the VMs? a. Yes. You can install the VMware toolkit if needed. It will not affect the scoring or communication between the VM and the Scoring Server.
1 Frequently Asked Questions www.leidos.com/cybersecurity/solutions/CyberNEXS
6. My zip password does not work. a. Please ask your team captains, coaches or mentors to verify your zipped password from the Startx email that was sent to them. 7. How do I check my MD5 Hash? a. Please download the document on the event page for specific instructions 8. My virtual machine will not connect to the network, but host computer does. a. Check and ensure your virtual machine is set for NAT. You can find instructions on the event page 9. I am having problems with registration of the virtual machine. a. Please check the webpage for the instructions on how to troubleshoot your virtual machine registration for Windows and Linux b. Also, check and make sure you did not turn on any firewalls. 10. I cannot remember my password I created at registration on the CyberNEXS webpage a. We CANNOT retrieve passwords. You will need to contact the help desk for further instructions. 11. My virtual machine stopped checking in according to Get My Status a. Stop and start the cybernexs services. i. In Windows you can go under computer management, then services, open the service and stop or start ii. In Linux open terminal and type service cybernexs stop or service cybernexs start 12. For the Forensics round, should I be concerned that my points are not being counted if my ticket still indicates “Open”? a. No. Tickets for forensics are automatically scored by the scoring engine and will not be reviewed by the White Team until after the competition ends. The tickets will indicate “Open” for the duration of the challenge, but each ticket is being reviewed by the server for point value. After the competition ends, the White Team will manually review all submitted tickets to ensure all point values were counted for all answers.
2 Frequently Asked Questions www.leidos.com/cybersecurity/solutions/CyberNEXS
13. How are scores actually calculated? a. Please refer to the separate document titled Understanding Scoring for a more detailed explanation. 14. If you have any further issues, please ensure have read through and utilized the documentation provided to you. If you still have problems, please contact the CyberNEXS Help Desk
Email: [email protected]
3 Frequently Asked Questions www.leidos.com/cybersecurity/solutions/CyberNEXS
