Cyber Orientation F2026 - HACC x THM
HACC Kick-off: TryHackMe Night
TryHackMe is partnering with HACC and everyone who RSVPs here gets a free semester of Premium.
TryHackMe teaches you security by actually making you do it, so instead of reading about an attack you get handed a real machine to break into, and all of it runs in your browser with nothing to install.
At the kick-off we're getting everyone set up with an account, walking through a room together start to finish so you can see how the whole thing works, and getting people into their Crews before we lay out the rest of the semester.
💻 Bring a laptop and a charger.
To get a Premium seat you have to RSVP through this page. We're pulling the list straight from here when we hand out the codes, so if you're not on it we can't add you after the fact.
What you get
🎟️ A free semester of TryHackMe Premium, no cost to join, ever
🏆 Various CTF challenges from TryHackMe + certification vouchers and merch credit for their store
Meet your crew, then all teams will be announced at the end
Your first room guided from start to finish
The plan for the semester: CTFs, competitions, and the CDC
How TryHackMe actually works
Everything is built around rooms, a room is just one topic with some reading followed by a list of tasks you answer questions on to finish it.
There's two kinds. Walkthroughs teach you the concept first and then quiz you on it, which is where you start if you're new to any of this. Challenges are the CTFs, and those hand you a target with no instructions at all, so you have to figure out how to get in yourself.
Some of the questions you can answer straight from the reading, but the rest you have to go get. When a task needs a machine you hit Start Machine and TryHackMe spins up a target in the cloud and gives you its IP address, then you attack it from the AttackBox, which is a Linux machine that opens in another browser tab with all the tools already installed on it.
🚩 Hidden somewhere on that target are flags that look like THM{...}, and when you find one you paste it into the answer box and the task is done. That's the entire loop, and everything past that point is just a harder version of the same thing.
We'll run one together as a group so nobody's sitting there lost.
Crews
Crews are the small groups inside the club, and your crew is who you compete with, study with, and go to career fairs with for the rest of the semester.
If you haven't filled out the member form yet you need to do that before the meeting or we can't place you. Friends are welcome to join your crew as long as they fill out the form too, and it doesn't matter what major they are.
Who this is for
Everyone at Iowa State is welcome, and you don't need to be a CS major or have touched security before to get something out of this. The labs start from "what's inside a computer" and go up from there, so total beginners and CTF veterans both have something to grind.
The most common answer on our member form was "did not know where to start," so if that's you, you're exactly who this is built for.
Whether you're interested in:
Cybersecurity
Networking
Cloud and IT
CTFs and competitions
Internships and career fairs
Or you're just curious what any of this is
you're welcome to come.
No experience required.
Getting set up
RSVP here, since this is the list the Premium seats come off of
Fill out the member form so we can place you in a Crew: Open Google Form
Make a free TryHackMe account:
https://tryhackme.com/Join the HACC Discord: discord.gg/nyBtM22jak
Show up and we'll get your Premium claimed and put you on the board
Details
Date: Thursday Sep 10 or Wednesday Sep 9 (Will vote)
Location: Coover 1011
Crew time: 6:00 PM
Main session: 6:30 PM
End of talk: 7:30 PM
No attendance cap so you can register here or just show up, but the Premium seats come off the RSVP list, so you'll want to register either way. Crew registrations close the day before the meeting.
Links
Leaderboard: https://purple-sky-0d7fc7210.7.azurestaticapps.net/?utm_source=luma
Member form: Open Google Form
Discord: discord.gg/nyBtM22jak
Club signup: stuorg.iastate.edu/hacc
Heads up on the leaderboard, right now that site is there to show you the prizes and what it'll look like.