Cascade STEAM Breach is a Community Project featuring a cyber-security shared learning experience in a game similar to Capture the Flag!
In a cooperative, low-stress format designed for all skill levels, the offensive Red Team takes on the defensive Blue Team in a structured learning exercise — planting, detecting, and resolving cybersecurity challenges in a controlled environment. Participants share their strategies for attacking and defending, which helps evolve further rounds of play with more difficult challenges.
Breach is planned for the 4th Sunday of the month from 1pm–5pm at the Bellingham Makerspace. Check our Community Calendar, Meetup Page, and/or our Community Hub (Discord) for scheduled events. Join the breach and cyber channels on Discord for event and team discussion.
Our first Breach event is March 29, 2026!
Contact breach@cascadesteam.org to discuss details regarding the Cascade STEAM Breach Community Project.
What Makes Breach Different
Most CTF events are competitive — teams race against each other. Cascade Breach takes a different approach:
- Cooperative over competitive — work with anyone in the room, share what you know
- All skill levels genuinely welcome — beginners are paired with experienced participants
- Walkthroughs are part of the format — every round ends with open sharing of all challenge flags and defense strategies
- Low-stress, high-learning — the goal is community skill-building, not a scoreboard
How to Play
Teams are formed of 3–5 players. At each event, teams are matched in a head-to-head battle consisting of two rounds. Each team plays a round as the Red Team (offense) and as the Blue Team (defense). The winner is the team with the most Challenge Flag Points after both rounds.
Points are won by either (1) creating an undetected Challenge Flag (exploit) by the Red Team, or (2) detecting and resolving Challenge Flags (exploits) by the Blue Team.
Each round consists of five phases:
- Prepare Phase: The Red Team prepares five Challenge Flags (exploits) prior to the event.
- Resolve Phase: The Blue Team attempts to detect and resolve all five Challenge Flags created by the Red Team. If the Blue Team is not successful, then the Attack Phase begins.
- Attack Phase: The Red Team attacks Challenge Flags (known exploits) and adds new Challenge Flags (new exploits), forcing the Blue Team to defend by detecting and resolving each Challenge Flag.
- Victory Phase: The team with the most Challenge Flag points at the end of the Attack Phase is the victor.
- Collaborate Phase: The round ends with sharing of all Challenge Flag details by the Red Team and strategies for detection and resolution by the Blue Team.
What to Bring
A laptop — Linux preferred (a VM works fine), but any OS is okay for most challenges. No prior experience required. If you’ve never heard of a CTF before, this is a great place to start.
