<br><br> About TCS HackQuest - Season 7 <br><br> Hosted by TCS Cyber Security unit <br><br> Introduction <br>Hacking as an organized activity is gaining continuous traction. The rise of ethical hacking has emerged as a much-needed counter control to organized and state sponsored hacking activities. Given the compulsion of the recent pandemic, end points of organizations have also "gone home", it is essential now more than ever for the massive ethical hacking community to be ready to keep a hawk's eye on this. <br><br> We need to create an army to protect data with the same zealousness of an army that guards a country's physical borders. We need them to be conversant with the way data is stored, moved, and used. With the network line blurred between office and home, our data is more at risk than ever before. How can we ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of our data? <br><br> In this backdrop, TCS Cyber Security Unit is looking for students and enthusiasts who have a passion for ethical hacking and in general securing the digital future of organizations engaged in transacting millions of data points across the world! <br><br> The Contest <br>HackQuest started in 2016 as an earnest attempt to unearth specific talents who exceled in playing their favorite game – Catch the Flag! Based on the popular ‘Catch the Flag' (CTF) format, the contest presents a set of challenges to be completed in 6 hours. Each challenge evaluates their ethical hacking skills and their special competency in finding vulnerabilities. In the end, associates are awarded with special prizes and potential job offers from TCS in the Cyber Security Unit. <br><br> Participation <br>The contest is open for the 2022 and 2023 batch of B.Tech / M.Tech / BCA / MCA / BSc / MSc from all disciplines and all the relevant institutes in India. <br><br> Discipline <br>Students from all IT & Computer Science related disciplines with bachelor's or master's degree are eligible for the contest provided that they meet the TCS recruitment criteria. Candidates trained in Security domains as listed below would be given more preference: <br>- Application Security <br>- Network Security <br>- Java/J2EE, php, python. GO <br>- Information security and risk management <br>- Ethical Hacking <br>- Any Security specific certification like Security+, CEH, ISO 27001, etc. <br><br> Participation Guidelines <br>This event is conducted in two rounds. First round is an online Catch the Flag competition where all registered students can participate, and they will be shortlisted for further sub-rounds. <br><br> Participants shortlisted after Round 1 will move to Round 2, where they may be interviewed over Video Call/MS Teams/Webex by the TCS Cyber Security interview panel. <br><br> This is an individual contest. No team participation is permitted. <br><br> Once the contest registration begins, all interested and eligible participants will be required to register for the contest on https://www.tcshackquest.com with a valid CT/DT ID. To create a valid CT/DT ID, participant will have to login to TCS NextStep Portal, click on Register in the IT segment (Not BPS), fill in the fields and submit. The candidate will receive a pop-up with their CT/DT ID. <br><br> Entries submitted after the registration end-date will not be considered for evaluation. <br><br> For the first round, to login to the portal and access the challenges, we recommend the below mentioned specifications <br>- Desktop/Laptop with minimum of 1024*768 screen resolution <br>- Internet connectivity of not less than 1 Mbps Speed <br>- Browsers: Latest version of Firefox or Chrome <br>- Burp Suite community edition <br><br> For the second round, to login to the portal and access the challenges, below mentioned minimum specifications are recommended <br>- Desktop/Laptop with minimum of 1024*768 screen resolution <br>- Internet connectivity of not less than 1 Mbps Speed <br>- Browsers: Latest version of Firefox or Chrome <br>- Burp Suite community edition <br>- Web Camera <br>- Webex or Microsoft Teams <br><br> TCS will arrange for remote modalities of evaluating a select list of contestants from the 1st round. Contestants should stay tuned for real-time updates on round 2, dates, format etc. <br><br> Registration: <br>Any number of students can register for the contest. Participants should be above 18 years of age and would have completed their graduation in the Academic year of 2021-2022 or 2022-2023 only. <br>Students can participate in this contest after registering in TCS' NextStep Portal - TCS NextStep to generate a CT/DT ID in the IT Segment (Not BPS). Remember: (CT)/ Direct Trainee (DT) Reference Number is mandatory for participating in the contest. <br>Each participant who has registered to participate in Hackquest will be receiving a unique credential to take part in the contest. This credential is of utmost importance and should not be shared with other participants. <br><br>Registration Start Date – 11th Nov 2022 <br><br>Registration End Date – 1st Jan 2023 <br><br> Check out complete details here: <a href="https://www.tcshackquest.com/about" target="_blank">https://www.tcshackquest.com/about</a> <br><br> Read the instructions carefully! <br>- HackQuest season 7 round 1 will be held on 7th Jan, 2023 (Saturday). <br>- The contest will start at 10 AM and end at 4 PM. <br>- Time to upload the report will be between 4 to 6pm. However you can start preparing the report during any time of the contest. <br>- Reports must be uploaded in the HackQuest template which can be downloaded from the portal itself. <br>- A valid CT/DT ID is mandatory to register for HackQuest Season 7. If you have not used the correct CT/DT ID, you will be prohibited from participating and/or disqualified from HackQuest Season 7. <br>- Participants are expected to have stable high-speed internet connection to download files related to challenges. The size may vary as per challenge complexity. <br>- Participants are expected to be ready with their platform of choice to solve the challenges. There might be challenges which are easier to solve in certain OS distributions. <br>- You are allowed to use tools and programming languages of your choice, but usage of any automated scanners or tools which send a huge amount of traffic or try to bruteforce is strictly prohibited. Your access may be blocked from the application. <br>- Once you solve a challenge, you will be rewarded with a flag. For your information all flags will be in the format of HQ7FLAG {..}. Please copy the flag in the flag submission box provided in each of the challenge pop ups. <br>- There might be hidden keys for certain challenges which would be in the format of HQ7. and contestants are expected to be on a lookout for the same. <br>- In case of any queries, write to us at careers@tcs.com <br><br> View Official Hackquest Website here: <a href="https://www.tcshackquest.com/" target="_blank">https://www.tcshackquest.com/</a> <br><br> About TCS: Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company with its headquarters in Mumbai. It is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 locations across 46 countries.In July 2022, it was reported that TCS had over 600,000 employees worldwide. TCS is the second largest Indian company by market capitalisation and is among the most valuable IT service brands worldwide. In 2015, TCS was ranked 64th overall in the Forbes "World's Most Innovative Companies" ranking, making it one of the highest-ranked IT services companies and a top Indian company. As of 2018, it is ranked eleventh on the Fortune India 500 list. In September 2021, TCS recorded a market capitalisation of US$200 billion, making it the first Indian IT tech company to do so. In 2016–2017, parent company Tata Sons owned 72.05% of TCS and more than 70% of Tata Sons' dividends were generated by TCS. Tata Consultancy Services Limited, initially started as Tata Computer Systems, was founded in 1968 by a division of Tata Sons Limited. Its early contracts included punched card services to sister company TISCO (now Tata Steel), working on an Inter-Branch Reconciliation System for the Central Bank of India, and providing bureau services to Unit Trust of India. In 1975, TCS delivered an electronic depository and trading system called SECOM for a Swiss company SIS SegaInterSettle; it also developed System X for the Canadian Depository System and automated the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. TCS associated with a Swiss partner, TKS Teknosoft, which it later acquired. In 1980, TCS established India's first dedicated software research and development centre, the Tata Research Development and Design Centre (TRDDC) in Pune. In 1981, it established India's first client-dedicated offshore development centre, set up for clients Tandem. In 1993 TCS partnered with Canada-based software factory Integrity Software Corp, which TCS later acquired. In anticipation of the Y2K bug and the launch of a unified European currency (Euro), Tata Consultancy Services created the factory model for Y2K conversion and developed software tools which automated the conversion process and enabled third-party developer and client implementation. Towards the end of 1999, TCS decided to offer Decision Support System (DSS) in the domestic market under its Corporate Vice President and Transformation Head Subbu Iyer. The company also registered its first tagline “Beyond the Obvious” in 1999.