ECTF™ Participants:
A unique competition that builds knowledge, careers, and reputations

A Competition Unlike Any Other
Within a fun and competitive environment, MITRE’s eCTF™ develops practical skills for securing critical embedded systems, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), smart grids, and medical devices. As it includes design, build, and attack components, our approach balances offense and defense with an innovative program you won’t find in standard attack-only CTFs.



A Valuable Course Students Will Enjoy
With artifacts and deliverables universities can use as course assignments, this eCTF doubles as real-world experience in an attractive setting for students. Participants gain extra exposure within academia and the security industry.
“I had no security experience prior to this competition. The learning curve was HUGE and I LOVED that! I was forced to learn so much. I loved doing the research, designing and implementing the secure system, and reviewing and attacking other teams’ designs. It was a blast!”
Education Beyond Textbooks
Develop real-world problem-solving skills with direct experience in project management, cybersecurity, cryptography, and embedded systems. eCTF is an opportunity to learn hard and soft skills often not taught in classroom environments.
Workforce Development in Action
The MITRE of eCTF helps fill critical workforce gaps by providing an environment where student competitors engage with both designing and attacking secure systems. Since it’s inception, the competition has grown exponentially and quite a few former competitors have found a home at MITRE! Check out our panel discussion with five former ECTF competitors, Ben, Maretta, Sam, Jake, and Patrick below!
Participating Universities
MITRE’s eCTF competition has consistently grown since the 2016 pilot competition with four universities. Now, more than 30 teams compete annually. The eCTF network of past participants includes hundreds of students from 80 schools:
- Air Force Institute of Technology
- AJ College of Science and Technology
- Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University
- Baldwin Wallace University
- BASIS Chandler
- Carnegie Mellon University
- Center I (Albemarle County Public Schools)
- Clarendon High School
- Clemson University
- Delaware Area Career Center
- Eastern Florida State College
- Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School
- Farmington High School
- Florida Atlantic University
- Florida International University
- Georgia Institute of Technology
- Hanze University of Applied Sciences
- Harmony Science Academy
- Huntsville City Schools Cyber Academy
- Indian Institute of Technology Madras
- Indiana Institute of Technology
- Independent School District 196
- Johns Hopkins University
- Kilgore College
- Lakota East High School
- Louisiana State University
- Marriotts Ridge High School
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Michigan State University
- Morgan State University
- Mount Saint Dominic Academy
- New Century Technology High School
- New York University
- Norfolk State University
- North Carolina State University
- Northern Virginia Community College
- Nova Southeastern University
- Parkway Spark!
- Penn State Abington
- Purdue University
- River Hill High School
- Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
- Searcy High School
- Singapore Management University
- Springfield-Clark County CTC
- SRM Institute of Science and Technology
- Symbiosis Institute of Technology
- Texas A&M University
- Thadomal Shahani Engineering College
- The Harker School
- Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology
- Tufts University
- United States Military Academy
- University at Buffalo
- University of Alabama in Huntsville
- University of Arizona
- University of California Irvine
- University of California Santa Cruz
- University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
- University of Connecticut
- University of Dayton
- University of Edinburgh
- University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
- University of Maryland College Park
- University of Massachusetts Amherst
- University of New Hampshire
- University of New Haven
- University of North Dakota
- University of Texas at Arlington
- University of Texas at Dallas
- University of Washington
- University of Wyoming
- US Air Force Academy
- Virginia State University
- Virginia Tech
- Wellington High School
- West Virginia University
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute
- Xavier University
- Zambia University College of Technology
Register Your Team
Many schools offer the eCTF as a for-credit course, often as a special topic, seminar, or independent study. We strongly recommend this route as it helps students commit time for the competition and recognizes and awards students for their efforts. See https://ectf.mitre.org/faculty-advisors/ or contact us at ectf@mitre.org for more information about offering the course for credit.
At the time of team registration you do not need to know your full roster. We release an individual registration form in December that all team members complete.
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