TL;DR

I joined my local University's CTF team as a high school student to compete in TryHackMe’s Industrial Intrusion challenge. I was assigned OSINT flags since I didn’t have full access to THM’s tools. I learned to trust my knowledge and to not overthink. Even with limited tools and experience, I was able to help the team and grow from the experience.

🧠 How I Got In

My local University's team needed one more member to do TryHackMe’s Industrial Intrusion room competitively. I wasn’t in their cyber club (though I’m a concurrent student), but they let me join.

I had done plenty of CTFs on picoCTF, but this was my first team-based, time-limited competition. I didn’t know what to expect, but I was ready to try something new.

🎯 My Role on the Team

I was assigned the OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) flags — 3 in total. While I usually focus on binary exploitation (my favorite), this room had none of that category. I was happy to contribute however I could.

Unlike the rest of the team who had THM Premium, I was using a free account, which limited me to one hour per day on the attack box. OSINT didn’t require it — perfect fit.

🧰 The Tools I Used

• gobuster — for directory enumeration
• dig — for DNS record lookups
• lookup.tools/dns — for fast online DNS and WHOIS
• CyberChef — for decoding/encoding/transformation

No complex setups — just using what I knew effectively.

🧩 The Challenges

The first OSINT flag was actually the hardest. Not because it was tricky, but because I was overthinking everything. I assumed it had to be deep in DNS or metadata, but it was much simpler.

“Don’t overthink — I’m not in over my head.”

Once I got the first flag, my confidence grew, and I solved the remaining two much more smoothly.

💡 What I Learned

This wasn’t a technical breakthrough, but a mental one:

• Don’t overthink. Try the simple route first.
• I belonged there. I was the youngest and least experienced, but I could still compete.

🔁 What I’d Do Differently

• Become more well-rounded across all CTF categories
• Learn to recognize challenge patterns faster
• Stay calm instead of spiraling into analysis loops

🧠 Final Thoughts

This wasn’t my first CTF, but it was my first team competition. It changed how I think about challenges and what I’m capable of.

Even with limited access and experience, I was able to help my team and grow. And that’s what matters most.