CTF-ORIONFree, always
No locked lessons and no premium tier for the good parts. Knowledge here is open.
learning paths
Learning for everyone
Free lessons in a clear order. Each module ends with a small practice flag.
What our motto means in practice
Learning for everyone was the first thing CTF-ORION stood for. It still decides how lessons are built and who they are for.
Your own pace
No deadlines and no streaks. Come back after a week or a year and pick up where you stopped.
No prerequisites
Foundations assumes nothing. If you can use a browser, you can start today.
Anyone can teach
Lessons come from the community too. Learn here today, teach here tomorrow.
Foundations
Ten modules from no background to your first full challenge. Do them in order; each one builds on the last.
-
25 min
Working in a terminal
Moving around, reading files and running commands without fear.
-
20 min
Files and permissions
What owners, groups and permission bits actually control.
-
30 min
How the web talks
Requests, responses, headers and cookies, seen in your own browser.
-
25 min
Encodings
Base64, hex and URL encoding, and how to recognise each at a glance.
-
30 min
Hashes and encryption
Why they are different and when each one is used.
-
35 min
Reading network captures
Opening a capture file and following a conversation.
-
25 min
Searching like an investigator
Search operators, archives and checking your sources.
-
40 min
Your first reversing tool
Loading a small program and reading what it does.
-
35 min
Small scripts
Automating boring steps with a few lines of Python.
-
45 min
Your first full challenge
Putting it all together on a beginner CTF challenge.
Category paths
After Foundations, go deeper in the area you enjoy most. Each path matches a challenge category, so practice is always one click away.
soon
Cryptography
From classical ciphers to how modern schemes break when they are used carelessly.
soon
Forensics
File formats, disk images and network captures, and how to find what someone tried to hide.
soon
Reverse engineering
Reading programs you did not write: assembly basics, decompilers and patient note-taking.
soon
OSINT
Searching public sources carefully, verifying what you find, and respecting the people behind the data.
soon
Steganography
Messages tucked inside images, audio and documents, and the tools that bring them out.
soon
Web and Pwn
These paths open together with machine-based challenges, once our tunnel system is ready.
How a module works
Every module, in every path, follows the same three steps.
Read the lesson
Short pages with diagrams and examples. Most take ten to twenty minutes.
Try it yourself
A guided exercise with a downloadable file, so you practise on something real.
Submit the practice flag
Paste the flag you found. Practice flags never affect any scoreboard.
Know a topic well?
Write a module or a whole path. Community lessons are reviewed and published with your name on them.