SEC536: Adversarial AI - Penetration Testing AI Systems
SEC536Offensive Operations, Artificial Intelligence
SANS Community Benefits
Connect, learn, and share with other cybersecurity professionals
What is the SANS CTF European Championship?
This is a two-stage European cybersecurity competition combining national qualifying rounds with a Europe-wide Final.
Built on the same practical foundations as SANS training, the tournament focuses on real-world, hands-on cyber skills across areas such as:
- Incident response
- Threat detection and analysis
- Network defence
- Exploitation and vulnerability analysis
- Security operations
This is applied capability under pressure, not theoretical knowledge.
Stage 1: National CTF Qualifiers (Open to all)
Start Date: 25th May, 2026 at 9 am CEST
End Date: 29th May, 2026 at 9 am CEST
- Open to individual players across 45 European countries
- Players will have 48 hours to compete over 5 calendar days.
- Top 10 participants in each country qualify for the European Final
- National winners receive an exclusive challenge coin
This stage identifies the strongest players at a national level and determines who advances to represent their country in the European Championship Final.
Stage 2: European Championship Final
Start Date: 10th June 2026 at 9am CEST
End Date: 12th June, 2026 at 12pm CEST
Top qualifiers from across Europe have a 3-day window to compete in an advanced Skills Quest Championship Final. These challenges will be exponentially harder than the first round and will push the finalists to their limits.
The rules are simple: the one who finishes with the most points on day 3 wins and is crowned the SANS CTF European Champion.
Why Enter?
- Test your skills against other top cybersecurity professionals across Europe
- Gain national, European recognition – basically, get yearlong bragging rights
- Demonstrate hands-on capability in realistic CTF scenarios
Whether you are just getting started in cyber or whether you’re an ambitious cyber professional, this competition offers measurable proof of your technical ability.
Championship Prizes
- 1st Place: SANS Training Course plus GIAC Certification attempt
- 2nd Place: SANS Training Course
- 3rd Place: 1-Year Skills Quest licence
This Championship is ideal for:
- SOC analysts and security operations professionals
- Blue team and red team practitioners
- Cybersecurity students and graduates
- Early-career cyber professionals
- Individuals preparing for SANS training or GIAC certification
Albania
Andorra
Austria
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Kosovo
Latvia
Liechtenstein
Lithuania
Luxembourg
Malta
Moldova
Monaco
Montenegro
Netherlands
North Macedonia
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Vatican City
- The tournament is strictly individual participation only.
- Every individual who wishes to take part must register.
- Please share this page with your colleagues or friends if they would like to join.
- Signing up for this tournament can only be done by creating a SANS Account. Prior to the event starting, all registered participants will be invited to accept access via email.
The final round is limited to 400 players. If every European country has a full top 10 list of qualifying players, it may not be possible to advance all top 10 players from each country. In that case, the lowest-scoring players across all countries’ top 10 lists will be removed from the final qualification list until the 400-player limit is reached. Players who are removed due to this limit will still receive their SANS CTF EU Championship coin.
- Have fun!
- You must participate fairly such that your score reflects your ability. Identified cheating may result in disqualification. Your goal is to have fun and learn!
- Only target the specific URLs, files, and endpoints provided in the challenge briefings that you are given permission to target. If you are unsure of the activity you are undertaking at any time please contact support.
- Do not target or attack SANS ranges.io, the platform providing the CTF. It is not an approved target.
- Do not intentionally hack, attack, or sabotage other participants.
- Do not intentionally break or sabotage the challenges so that they cannot be used or completed by other participants.
- If you think something is broken, ask! We won’t give out hints, but we can check the status of a challenge and refresh it, if necessary. Please contact support if you think a challenge is broken. We constantly monitor uptime so more likely you need to refresh your method.
- If you think you’ve found an unintentional security failure or vulnerability — something outside a challenge — please email support@ranges.io. We really value and encourage responsible disclosure.
- Publishing write-ups, answers, and content from SANS CTFs / Ranges is prohibited. It spoils the games for others and removes the benefits of playing to learn.
*Purposefully breaking the rules and disrupting the game, the network, or hacking unintended systems will result in immediate disqualification.*
Create or log in to your SANS account, then head to your portal. When the SANS CTF European Championship banner appears, click to secure your place. That’s your signal you’re in, next stop, the competition. You will be able to access the National CTF Qualifiers on the 25th of May at 9 am CEST.
No. The EURO Cyber Tournament is an individual competition only.
No prior SANS course attendance is required. The competition is open to individuals ready to test their practical cybersecurity skills.
You will receive an invitation to compete in the European Championship Final.
Yes, the challenge has multiple skill levels; this is suitable for all levels of experience.
Yes, they will be added automatically.