[seabass-labrax]

Just because it's a computer security challenge doesn't mean you should start breaking into the website before the challenge begins. That's akin to suggesting that boxers who were deemed not to qualify for a competition should punching the referee to prove otherwise; what's normal inside the sport can be entirely unacceptable outside it.

[FanaHOVA]

I agree, but it clearly says you need an edu email. Either you have an edu email, or by asking how to skip that check you're trying to circumvent the website limitations. So in spirit, you're already trying to break in, just through different means :)

[Jerrrrrrry]

If you don't have a family, the Air Force won't let you fly a plane.

You think being Omni-potent in a modern world wouldn't bring its own shade of problems?

It's more akin to the boxers who were deemed not to qualify cuz their deemed arbitrarily too old remind the judges of their youth, all in good fun.

If you cannot get access to an @edu email for long enough to verify a 2FA between Facebook familiarity and now, you likely aren't of the caliber outside of the domain specialty that can be entrusted with that magnitude of information.

[tptacek]

If you don't have a family, the Air Force won't let you fly a plane.

Can you cite a source for this? I'm acquainted with some USAF people and have close friends with fighter pilot siblings (I know, family) and I have never heard this before. If by "family" you mean "a spouse", the people going up in trainers are too young to have built families, so that can't possibly be a DQ.

[Jerrrrrrry]

That was kinda an obvious analogous exaggeration.

Although, not too unbelievable for highly-sensitive contexts.

A pilot with less obvious motivation to go AWOL institutionally could only benefit the context.

[tptacek]

Is that a rule, or just something you think should be a rule?

[Jerrrrrrry]

Once it's written down, it doesn't matter what it was, it's a rule

[Jtsummers]

They can't because it's not true.

[tptacek]

It sounded weird af to me.

In fairness: so too does the claim that this is a test of whether you can hack a .edu email address, like it's 1994 and the next test in their CTF is whether you can find an X.25 outdial. No, they're just recruiting from engineering schools, like everyone else!

Career tip: if hoping for a GG-whatever role at NSA, recommend not committing crimes in the process of trying to impress them. They are a lot more boring than you think they are.

[Jerrrrrrry]

  Career tip: if hoping for a GG-whatever role at NSA, recommend not committing crimes in the process of trying to impress them. They are a lot more boring than you think they are.

well, its not a really a crime when you do it for the homeland. also not a crime if its boring.