Available courses
A small utility in an unnamed locale has a small SCADA test environment setup. The staff at this utility have installed a DSL line to enable remote access to this system. Unfortunately, the utility staff did not adequately consider the security implications of doing this, leaving the test environment open to attack from the internet.
After experiencing odd behavior on this system, the lead engineer began looking at system logs and network traffic in an attempt to troubleshoot the issue. He discovered what appeared to be unauthorized access into the system. You have been called in to examine this evidence and help determine what has occurred.
Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to examine these evidentiary artifacts to determine what has happened, and provide answers to the following questions.
Before you begin, please download and install Wireshark (1.4.6 or later), and then download the following ZIP file (containing 6 packet capture files) for analysis:
Spring 2026 Cyber Quest PCAP's
Registration will open on February 1, 2026, and will close on March 31, 2026. The quiz will be available from February 15, 2026 until March 31, 2026. Registered users will each have three attempts to take the quiz. For each of your three attempts, you will have 24 hours from the time you begin the quiz to complete it, and you may only submit your answers once per attempt. For each attempt, you must submit the answers within 24 hours of when you start, or by 11:59pm PDT on March 31, 2026 (whichever comes first). If you still have the quiz open in your browser at closing time, or if you leave the quiz and don't come back to submit, it will automatically submit whatever answers you have entered so far. If you stay on the same page for more than four hours, your session may time out. Your answers on each page will be automatically saved every five minutes, and when you click the Next button at the bottom of each page. You may leave and come back, but you must come back to finish before time expires or the quiz closes!
Rankings will be determined based on who achieves the highest score in the shortest amount of time. In the event of a tie score, the shortest time is the winner. Your highest score among your three attempts will be counted as your final score. The time is calculated based on when you first open the quiz and when you submit your final answers; the timer DOES NOT stop if you leave and come back! For example, if you start the quiz at 2:00pm, work on it for an hour, then come back the next day at 1:00pm and submit your final answers at 1:05pm, your time would be 23:05:00.
Any user found to have registered for more than one account, or users found to have shared answers, will be disqualified and ineligible for any awards, prizes, scholarships or other opportunities presented as a result of Cyber Quests.
Are you ready for the challenge? Take the Cyber Quest challenge to compete for an invitation to one of the 2026 USCC Cyber Camps, which are scheduled throughout the summer around the country. Please visit the U.S. Cyber Challenge Website for details and locations. Additional awards, prizes and scholarships may become available. While all are welcome to participate in the competition, camp invitations, awards, prizes and scholarships are available to U.S. residents only at this time.
Questions about the challenge should be directed to support@cyberquests.org. However, please keep in mind that we will not give answers to the quiz itself.
Good Luck!