School of Engineering, St. Aloysius Deemed to be University
Cybersecurity Club
Hackoholics is structured around one idea — that real skill comes from doing, not watching.
Every session is built around doing. Labs, challenges, and live problems take priority over slides and passive content. If you're not getting your hands dirty, we're not doing it right.
CTF competitions are the benchmark. They're measurable, challenging, and force you to build real problem-solving skills under pressure. We train with intent — not just for participation.
Writeups, shared notes, internal documentation. When you solve something, you document it. When you figure something out, you share it. The club gets smarter together over time.
We're building a small, serious group — not a mass membership drive. The quality of people in the room matters. Members are expected to show up, contribute, and stay engaged.
Club activity is structured around things that build real competency. Here's what membership looks like on the ground.
Structured sessions covering specific tools, attack techniques, defensive concepts, and CTF categories. Led by members, for members — not outsourced.
Hands-on practice in controlled environments. Think VMs, virtual labs, and purpose-built challenge infrastructure. You exploit, analyze, and build — not just read.
Club-run CTF-style challenges designed to push members at every level. Rotating categories and difficulty tiers — something for beginners and something to crack for advanced members.
Team representation in external Capture The Flag competitions. We register, we prepare, and we compete — building competitive mindset and cross-category exposure.
After every solved challenge, writeups go in the club's shared knowledge base. This creates a compounding resource and helps newer members learn from what's already been solved.
Build scripts, explore security tooling, contribute to club projects, and experiment with techniques. There's room for curiosity-driven work alongside the structured program.
These are directions, not divisions. Members explore across categories based on interest and competition needs. No track is siloed — everything overlaps.
XSS, SQLi, auth bypasses, IDOR, SSRF. Web is the most common CTF category and one of the most practical real-world skill sets.
OffensiveDisk images, memory dumps, network captures, steganography. Find what's hidden and reconstruct what happened.
InvestigativeOpen-source intelligence. Gathering and correlating publicly available information to build insight — a skill that overlaps with both red team and research work.
ReconDisassembly, decompilation, binary analysis. Understand how software works at the machine level and reverse-engineer what you weren't given the source for.
Low-levelHow real enterprise networks are attacked and defended. Kerberoasting, lateral movement, privilege escalation in Windows environments.
InfrastructureCrypto, misc, pwn, programming. General CTF fluency — the ability to pick up an unfamiliar challenge type and work through it methodically.
CompetitivePrior experience helps, but it is not a requirement. Curiosity, consistency, and genuine interest in the field matter more than your current skill level. We've built the structure to bring beginners up — if they're willing to put in the time.
If you're looking for a resume line, a certificate, or something casual to join — this isn't the right fit. Hackoholics is for people who actually want to learn cybersecurity and are willing to be active, engaged members of the community.
The bar isn't your current skill level. It's your intent.
The application is intentional — it helps us understand your interest and make sure Hackoholics is the right environment for you.
Fill out the application form. Tell us about yourself, your interest in cybersecurity, and what you're hoping to get from the club.
We review every submission. Shortlisted applicants will be contacted directly within a few days of the deadline.
A short, informal chat or orientation session. Not a technical interview — just a chance to align on expectations before onboarding.
Welcome to Hackoholics. You'll be added to the member workspace and onboarded for the first session cycle.
Hackoholics is something I have wanted to start since I was a few months into my cybersecurity journey. The main goal of this club is to let students get their hands dirty and work practically in a serious way, instead of continuously attending multiple sessions.
This club is not meant to repeat what happens in class, but to make students think in systems through labs, challenges, competitions, and, most importantly, shared problem-solving.
We are not trying to be the biggest club on campus. We are trying to build the right environment for students who are serious about offensive security, or even cybersecurity in general, and are willing to stay consistent. If the first cohort gets it right, everything that follows becomes stronger.
This is the beginning. The people who join first will shape the culture, standards, and direction of what Hackoholics becomes.
Application form opened. Seats are limited. The first cohort sets the standard.
Built for students serious about cybersecurity.