2018 SANS Holiday Hack Challenge Solution

A Guide to Solving the 2018 SANS Holiday Hack Challenge - by Dan Roberts

This year's Holiday Hack Challenge is in the form of a virtual security conference held by Santa and his elves at the North Pole, for the purpose of securing Christmas from the bad guys who have been trying to ruin the holiday over the past few years. During the conference, it appears that the cast of Die Hard attempts to hijack the conference. Our job is to solve all of the puzzles to reveal the true mastermind beind this plot.

In addition to the capture-the-flag style computer security challenges, there are YouTube videos featuring top notch members of the infosec community discussing current security topics. The experience is as much educational as it is entertaining.

Thank you to Ed Skoudis, SANS, Counter Hack, the KringleCon speakers, and all of the other talented individuals who made this possible. Thanks also to Google for being a sponsor of the event.

If you've somehow found yourself reading this without already attending KringleCon, your next stop should be the Start Here video recorded by Ed Skoudis. Then register for the event yourself, and have some fun before reading the solutions!