YanoSec
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Course / 11 First CTF / Lesson 06 of 07

How a YanoSec team sits down for a CTF

Estimated time: 12 min reading · 15 min activity

A team session works better when each task has an owner and everyone knows what may be shared. A role describes one person's responsibility for that sitting, such as reading requests or maintaining notes. A handoff transfers the current state before someone else takes over the same task.

The event decides whether collaboration is permitted. One event may allow shared methods inside a registered team, while another requires individual work. A club custom cannot expand that rule. This lesson drafts a session plan in your own file; it does not register a team or send a community message.

Before you begin

Estimated time
12 min reading, 15 min activity. Setup and optional practice may take longer.
Where you work
Use the original fictional Desk Lamp board and supplied files in any current desktop or mobile browser. No account, event registration, installation or network request is required. Keep draft notes in your own file.
Without a lab
All board rows, requests, rules and log lines needed for reasoning are printed here. Trace them in notes and compare with the activity rubric; label fictional or predicted evidence accurately. Reading works without JavaScript. Checking needs JavaScript and a secure context; saving also needs usable browser storage.

After this lesson you can:

  • Assign a different owner to two open cards under a team-notes rule.
  • Keep the session note in your own file.
  • Apply an individual-work rule when the event states one.

01Example

This fresh fictional sitting assigns an encoding card and a log card. The guided activity separately assigns W-8 and F-3. Nothing is sent.

Rule: private method notes allowed inside the team.
C-2 owner: encoding reader
L-6 owner: log reader
Notes owner: session recorder
Revisit: 2026-10-12 18:40 UTC
Sharing: local draft under the printed rule; no public post.

02The event writes the team rule

Read the collaboration and publication rules before assigning work. In the fictional Desk Lamp team activity, method notes can be shared within the team while public solutions are prohibited. Those are two separate audience decisions. Another event's individual-work rule would require a different plan.

Assign an owner to W-8 and a different owner to F-3, choose a revisit time with a date and time zone, and name the local notes file. If an owner stalls, they record action, result and next question before handing over. If a rule is unclear, draft a precise clarification and pause the dependent sharing decision.

Give each open card one owner, and follow the collaboration rule the event actually wrote.Model. A teaching model drawn by hand. It shows the idea, not real tool output.

Read the full explanation below.

Keep the named ownershipConsider public posting
One named owner per card

C-2 owner: encoding reader L-6 owner: log reader Notes owner: session recorder

met · C-2 encoding reader; L-6 log reader; session recorder keeps notes.
Printed team rule

Rule: private method notes allowed inside the team.

met · Local draft remains inside the team.
Apply the stated rule
Coordinate inside the rule

The supplied owners and revisit time 2026-10-12 18:40 UTC organize the fictional session.

The written event rule governs collaboration; the diagram sends no notes and publishes nothing.

The supplied owners and revisit time 2026-10-12 18:40 UTC organize the fictional session.

Follow the explanation

  1. The supplied owners and revisit time 2026-10-12 18:40 UTC organize the fictional session.
  2. Keep the local draft within the printed rule; no message is sent.
Read every state and value

1. The supplied owners and revisit time 2026-10-12 18:40 UTC organize the fictional session.

Case
owners
Conditions inspected
One named owner per card · Printed team rule
Decision shown
Yes

2. Keep the local draft within the printed rule; no message is sent.

Case
public
Conditions inspected
One named owner per card · Printed team rule
Decision shown
Yes
The written event rule governs collaboration; the diagram sends no notes and publishes nothing.

03Plan one sitting

Use the activity rule. W-8 and F-3 are both open. Give them different owners so two people do not start the same card with no handoff.

Team session
Event:
Window, with a date and a zone:
Rule name:
Cards in play:
Owner of each card:
Notes file: your own file. Nothing is sent.
Blocker:
Revisit time, with a date and a zone:

Download the session template

Activity rule
Label: Desk Lamp. Original fiction.

Team notes: allowed for method notes inside the team.
One owner per card. A second person waits for a handoff before starting the same card.
Public posts: not allowed.
Messages: this course does not send them.

Cards for the activity: W-8 and F-3.
Both are open.
Activity result: W-8 and F-3 have different owners.

Download the Desk Lamp team rule

  1. Write the rule name and the window, with a date and UTC.
  2. Assign an owner to W-8 and a different owner to F-3.
  3. Check: the two cards have different owners. The notes line says the file stays local.
  4. Stop. Do not send a message, and do not post the plan.

04Optional challenge

Draft one clarification you might later ask an organizer: whether a named event allows shared notes or only solo answers. Leave it in your file. About ten minutes. Do not send it.

05Fresh cases for the checks

Use these fictional cases for the checks below. They have different inputs from the worked examples. Read them here or make notes; no installation or external service is needed.

Team card A: fictional local sessionOwned fixture. An original file made for this course. Follow the activity's instructions in your own lab.

Rule: private method notes may be drafted inside this team. Public solutions are prohibited. One active owner per card; a second person needs a handoff first.
Cards: F6 local note, open; W3 saved request, open.
Team: Ina knows file reading; Sol knows request reading.
Both can draft local notes. No message or public post is requested.

Blocker card B: separate session stateOwned fixture. An original file made for this course. Follow the activity's instructions in your own lab.

Card L8, owner Mina. Last action: opened the printed log. Result: timestamps lack timezone.
Next question: does the supplied packet state a common timezone? Not yet checked.
Current time: 2026-10-23 16:05 UTC. Revisit in 15 minutes.
Session notes remain in session-local.txt.

Individual card C: separate event ruleOwned fixture. An original file made for this course. Follow the activity's instructions in your own lab.

Event Solo Paper requires individual work. It does not permit pooled answers or shared solution notes.
A club normally works in teams. That custom does not replace the event rule.

06Explain the evidence and its limit

Optional self-check: draft a private session note with event rule, different card owners, blocker, next question and dated zoned revisit.

Review it: use the current event’s collaboration rule; preserve one active owner and handoffs; distinguish planned actions from results; keep the audience within the actual grant.

07Common mistakes

If both people take W-8 and neither writes a handoff, the one-owner line was skipped.

If a team-notes habit is applied to an event that requires individual work, the event sentence was replaced with a club custom.

If the draft clarification is sent from this page, the lesson has no send action. The draft stays in the file.

References

  • CyLab Security Academy

    Describes self-paced practice, events and broad skill domains. Individual challenge launches and account access are separate from this reading activity.

  • pwn.college: Register ground rules

    States pwn.college's own restrictions on publishing challenge solutions. Apply each event's actual rules rather than assuming a universal release.