More than 100 security professionals next month will compete in a two-day cybersecurity competition that simulates real-world attackers and attacks.

The SANS NetWars contest -- part of the U.S. Cyber Challenge program -- will be held as part of the SANS Network Security 2011 conference at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. The contest is for both new and seasoned hackers.

Capture-the-flag (CTF) type hacking contests are nothing new in cybersecurity. What makes NetWars different than say, DefCon's CTF, is that it's aimed at all levels of hacking skills and all competitors have to begin at level one of the contest, says Ed Skoudis, director of NetWars for SANS. The more advanced players can then quickly advance to higher levels -- up to level four, then five, where the participant gets access to a system at the root level, he says. "Level five is for people who really know their stuff. There's castle-on-castle combat," Skoudis says.

"DefCon is a big-team CTF focused on binary analysis and exploit development. That's cool and a fantastic skill," Skoudis says. "That's not what NetWars is focused on. Ours includes this, too, but it's multilevel and multidisciplinary."

While other hacking contests are either targeted at newbies or "grand masters," he says, NetWars runs the gamut of security expertise.

Skoudis says the competition includes events that security pros could encounter in their everyday jobs. "We spent a lot of time making sure every challenge is real-world," he says. "We want to make sure they are using their analytical skills to solve them, and it's not just dumb luck."

Competitors test their analysis, defensive, and offensive skills by fighting off attackers and taking over targeted systems and networks. Among the skills they have to employ at various levels are digital forensics, packet and malware analysis, vulnerability testing, and penetration testing.

“The best way to defend against cyber attacks is to understand the mind of a cyber attacker, to know their abilities and predict their moves,” said Eric Bassel, director of the SANS Institute. “NetWars provides a forum for security professionals to test and perfect their cyber security skills in a manner that is legal and ethical, facing challenges derived from real-world environments and actual attacks that businesses, governments, and military organizations must deal with every day.”

The competition, called NetWars Tournament, will operate over two days during the SANS conference. Skoudis says SANS is working on adding two new levels of the competition for future tournaments. The typical contestant has three to five years of cybersecurity experience, he says.

SANs also runs NetWars Continuous, an ongoing competition akin to online gaming, which spans four months. "It's the same structure, but a [deeper] and longer challenge," Skoudis says. The scenario and theme of Continuous is finding an operating system image and analyzing it, he says. There are currently 15 players competing, and the scoreboard is available here to watch their progress.

Meanwhile, levels one and two of the NetWars Tournament are aimed at pros with up to three years' experience; level three, three to five years' experience; and level four, five to 10 years' experience. Level three focuses on analyzing DMZ hacks, and level four moves to a fully patched intranet.

Players in next month's competition compete for free if they take a class at the SANS conference. Otherwise, the entry fee is $999. The winner gets an Apple iPad2.

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