Summer may be over, but the fun continues this month with our expanded cyber range community series.
As the leaves change and the air turns crisp, it’s time to wrap up our Summer of Cyber Ranges — and what a summer it’s been. Over the past few months, the CMD+CTRL Security team and our expanding community of hackers, developers, and security professionals came together to learn, compete, collaborate, and level up through a series of immersive cyber range events.
Our final two events -- Attack in August and Hack to School: A Hacktember to Remember, showcased just how far this community has come since our kickoff back in June. With more than 120 participants across the final two events—and over 300 total across the summer—this series drew a larger, more diverse, and more globally distributed audience than ever before. Together, we’ve built a strong foundation for what’s next.
Our summer finale, Attack in August, featured two fan-favorite ranges: Shred and DigiExchange.
By reaching out to the broader OWASP community, we welcomed many first-time participants - reinforcing our shared goal: making security knowledge more accessible to everyone.
The energy at this event was electric. Returning champions like FROSTEDMONOTONY and ElleF once again demonstrated world-class skill, while newcomers—writingfish, nickyc, ByteTheBullet, H3xKun0ichi, and suspiciousdoggo—made an immediate impact on the leaderboards. The mix of seasoned pros and new talent resulted in dynamic interaction and helped drive momentum.
A few weeks later, we ushered in fall with Hack to School: A Hacktember to Remember, featuring two different ranges:
To better accommodate global players, Hack to School ran Friday through Monday, allowing participants across time zones to join at their convenience. The format proved successful, attracting participants from North America, Europe, and Asia who collaborated and shared insights in real time.
While live competition remains a hallmark of CMD+CTRL events, in keeping with our "Hack to School" theme, this event emphasized self-driven learning, enabling participants to explore at their own pace with the aid of:
The result? A more inclusive, flexible learning experience that delivered the fun and competitive energy CMD+CTRL is known for.
Across the summer, more than 300 participants joined our cyber ranges, representing a diverse mix of returning players, OWASP members, corporate teams, and independent hackers.
Highlights included:
The blend of experience levels fostered a collaborative environment for seasoned pros and beginners to connect and share ideas. Our Slack channel was buzzing throughout the weekend - as players forged connections that will last well beyond the event.
A key takeaway from our summer series was the importance of flexibility in creating a hospitable environment for participants across the globe. Cybersecurity has no borders - our community spans the globe. Expanding our event windows to four full days (Friday–Monday), allowed participants across regions and timezones to engage meaningfully.
Removing barriers resulted in a more dynamic and diverse group. The open forum ensured inclusion and welcomed night owls, early risers and weekend warriors alike. The self-directed play model also proved to be a success. Our comprehensive guides and video walkthroughs empowered players to personalize their learning journeys while still benefiting from expert insights.
Summer may be over, but the fun continues with our monthly CMD+CTRL HackTrack series, running through the end of the year:
Follow CMD+CTRL on LinkedIn to stay in the loop on upcoming events and competitions.
Sure, competitive events like Attack in August provide a fun environment for enthusiasts to gather and challenge each other, but they also deliver meaningful skills development. We recently published findings from our study that looked at the impact of 1,000+ cyber range events over 6+ years. We learned that real progress comes from doing:
Cyber ranges provide a realistic, risk-free environment where professionals and beginners can explore vulnerabilities, experiment safely, and learn by doing. The “lightbulb moments” we witnessed—when participants connected simulated vulnerabilities to real-world challenges—underscore why experiential learning is essential for modern AppSec and DevSecOps teams.
To everyone who participated—returning champions, first-time players, OWASP partners, and our supportive Slack community—thank you! Your enthusiasm, insight, and collaborative spirit made the Summer of Cyber Ranges really sizzle.
We're keeping the summer vibe going with these upcoming HackTrack ranges:
If you haven’t participated yet, this is a great time to start. Monthly events, flexible scheduling, and a rotating portfolio of themed environments offers something for everyone. Sign up today!
CMD+CTRL is the only cyber range platform purpose-built for application security. By mirroring the flaws, misconfigurations, and errors that attackers exploit in real-world software, CMD+CTRL cyber ranges offer engaging, realistic scenarios that help development and engineering teams build secure applications from the start. Visit www.cmdnctrlsecurity.com/training/cyber-range/ to learn more about our suite of gamified cyber ranges, designed to motivate learners at all levels.
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