A comprehensive field manual for Capture The Flag beginners and cybersecurity competitors.https://hackref.shovon.bd/en-ushttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/crypto/classical-ciphers/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/crypto/classical-ciphers/Caesar, Vigenère, ROT13, and substitution — the ciphers CTF beginners meet first and how to crack them all.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTcryptohttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/forensics/file-analysis/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/forensics/file-analysis/Identify mystery files, find hidden data in metadata, and extract embedded archives from any forensics challenge.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTforensicshttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/misc/encoding-decoding/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/misc/encoding-decoding/Recognise and reverse Base64, hex, URL, binary, and common CTF encodings — the first skill that pays off everywhere.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTmischttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/networking/protocol-analysis/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/networking/protocol-analysis/Understand TCP/IP, common application protocols, and how to spot anomalies in network traffic.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTnetworkinghttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/osint/osint-basics/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/osint/osint-basics/Find information about people, organisations, and infrastructure using only public sources — the OSINT mindset and starter toolkit.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTosinthttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/pwn/buffer-overflow-basics/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/pwn/buffer-overflow-basics/How stack-based buffer overflows work, how to find the offset, and how to control the instruction pointer.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTpwnhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/rev/reverse-engineering-basics/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/rev/reverse-engineering-basics/What static and dynamic analysis mean, which file types you'll encounter, and the workflow for your first crackme.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTrevhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/stego/image-steganography/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/stego/image-steganography/Find data hidden in PNG and JPEG files using LSB analysis, metadata inspection, and specialist stego tools.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTstegohttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/web/http-basics/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/web/http-basics/Understand requests, responses, methods, headers, and cookies — the foundation of every web challenge.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTwebhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/crypto/xor-encoding/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/crypto/xor-encoding/Understand XOR's role in CTF crypto — single-byte key recovery, repeating-key XOR, and the crib-drag attack.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTcryptohttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/forensics/pcap-analysis/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/forensics/pcap-analysis/Read network captures in Wireshark, follow streams, and extract files and credentials from captured traffic.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTforensicshttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/misc/scripting-for-ctf/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/misc/scripting-for-ctf/Write Python one-liners and short scripts to automate repetitive tasks — iteration, bruteforcing, and service interaction.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTmischttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/networking/network-recon/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/networking/network-recon/Map a target network with nmap — discover hosts, open ports, services, and OS fingerprints.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTnetworkinghttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/osint/geolocation/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/osint/geolocation/Identify where a photo was taken using environmental clues, reverse image search, and map tools.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTosinthttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/pwn/format-string-bugs/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/pwn/format-string-bugs/Use printf's %p and %n specifiers to leak memory and write arbitrary values anywhere in a process.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTpwnhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/rev/ghidra-workflow/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/rev/ghidra-workflow/A practical guide to navigating Ghidra — importing a binary, reading the decompiler, and renaming your way to an answer.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTrevhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/stego/audio-steganography/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/stego/audio-steganography/Find hidden messages in WAV and MP3 files using spectrograms, LSB tools, and DTMF decoding.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTstegohttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/web/sql-injection/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/web/sql-injection/Manipulate database queries by injecting SQL through unsanitized input to bypass auth and dump data.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTwebhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/crypto/rsa-basics/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/crypto/rsa-basics/How RSA works mathematically, and the three beginner mistakes that make CTF RSA challenges solvable.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTcryptohttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/forensics/memory-forensics/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/forensics/memory-forensics/Extract processes, network connections, files, and credentials from a raw memory dump using Volatility.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTforensicshttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/pwn/rop-chains/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/pwn/rop-chains/Chain together small existing code snippets (gadgets) to execute arbitrary logic when the stack is non-executable.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTpwnhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/rev/dynamic-analysis-gdb/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/rev/dynamic-analysis-gdb/Set breakpoints, inspect registers and memory, and step through a binary to find the flag at runtime.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTrevhttps://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/web/xss/https://hackref.shovon.bd/articles/web/xss/Inject JavaScript into pages viewed by other users to steal sessions or perform actions on their behalf.Fri, 07 Aug 2026 17:50:06 GMTweb