DoD Cyber Sentinel
Challenge 2025

Category-by-Category Breakdown

Step 1 — Accepted the Challenge and Set the Mindset

I first learned about the DoD Cyber Sentinel Challenge through the GovTech Blueprint Skool community. When I received the acceptance email, I was surprised and questioned whether I belonged in the event. I chose to show up, compete, and treat the experience as a learning opportunity instead of letting doubt make the decision for me.

Step 2 — Prepared the Workspace

I used Kali Linux as my main environment and kept organized notes on tools, commands, clue paths, solved items, and tasks that needed more research. Staying organized mattered because CTF pressure can make it easy to lose track of what has already been tested.

Step 3 — Started with Reconnaissance

For target-based challenges, I began by identifying what was available. I used Nmap and DNS tools to map ports, services, hostnames, and possible application paths. This helped me avoid guessing and made each next step more intentional.

Steps 4–9 — Working Through Each Challenge Category

• STEP 04Web Challenges — Reviewed page content, checked robots.txt, used cURL, and validated hidden paths. Confirmed that robots.txt disallowed paths can be direct evidence leads.
• STEP 05Virtual Host Enumeration — Inspected TLS certificate SAN fields to uncover hidden hostnames, then used host-header testing via Burp Suite and cURL to reach hidden content.
• STEP 06Packet Analysis — Used Wireshark to inspect protocols, follow HTTP streams, and extract sensitive data from plaintext network traffic. Reinforced why encryption matters.
• STEP 07Protocol Enumeration — Used Nmap to find exposed RTSP ports, then ffprobe and ffplay to enumerate valid stream names and validate connections.
• STEP 08OSINT Geolocation — Slowed down, compared visual details in images, checked map context, and used public press releases to geolocate a building within the required coordinate radius.
• STEP 09Advanced Forensics — Chained PCAP analysis, VNC keystroke review, Volatility 3 memory forensics, SSLKEYLOGFILE recovery, and TLS decryption into a single investigation workflow.

Step 10 — Final Score and Reflection

I earned 1,200 points during the competition and finished with a final score of 975 after revisiting tougher tasks. I placed #767 out of 2,151 participants — in the top 36% of all competitors in a DoD-level national event.

The biggest win was proving to myself that I can learn under pressure, keep moving when stuck, and turn the experience into real portfolio evidence. Every unsolved challenge identified a skill gap that became a future lab or study target.

Labs & Projects Inspired by This Competition

• Create a Wireshark lab focused on plaintext HTTP stream analysis, POST data extraction, and URL decoding
• Create a web discovery lab focused on robots.txt, hidden paths, directory enumeration, and safe documentation
• Create a virtual-host recon lab covering TLS SAN inspection, hosts-file mapping, and host-header testing
• Create an Nmap + service enumeration lab including port scanning, service versioning, and decision-making
• Create a beginner forensics lab using strings, exiftool, and basic encoded artifact review
• Create an advanced stretch lab on PCAP + memory analysis using Volatility 3 and Wireshark together
• Continue studying CompTIA A+ while connecting hardware, networking, and troubleshooting to cybersecurity fundamentals
• Use future competitions to measure skill growth and build confidence for real-world cybersecurity and IT support roles