THE TARASEC PIZZA CHALLENGE
Join a live TaraSec challenge, connect through the event hotspot, run the approved tests, and help us find weaknesses in collaborative cybersecurity. Useful failures are results too.
WHY A CHALLENGE?
TaraSec proposes that Internet participants cooperate by sharing useful security observations while keeping local control over what action to take. That concept should be attacked, questioned and measured — not accepted because we say it works.
The Pizza Challenge turns the event into a practical experiment. Participants can help discover technical failures, bad assumptions, usability problems, false positives and better ways to design the system.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
At an active TaraSec event, connect to the TaraSec challenge Wi-Fi shown by the organiser. The event network may intentionally restrict unrelated Internet traffic so mobile-data usage stays small and the challenge traffic is easier to observe.
Use the TaraSec app when available, or follow the event instructions shown on this page or by the organiser. The app may display a prominent Join Pizza Challenge prompt when an active nearby event is detected.
Follow the scenario for that event. Tests may include controlled login attempts, simulated infections, routing/tagging demonstrations, hotspot behaviour or other experiments against systems specifically prepared for the challenge.
Tell us when the result differs from what TaraSec predicted. Screenshots, timing, device type and a short description are often more useful than a polished explanation.
WHAT ARE WE TESTING?
The challenge is about cooperation. Can a security event detected by one participant become useful information for another participant without turning the Internet into a centrally controlled or privacy-invasive system?
Depending on the event, we may test whether rejected traffic is reported correctly, whether demo/test traffic is separated from real security evidence, whether another TaraSec participant reacts as expected, whether CLEAN and INFECTED units are handled correctly across NAT or VPN routing, and whether false or incomplete evidence is handled safely.
Some events may use the TaraSec hotspot as the controlled network. That lets many student phones participate even when the venue does not provide wired Internet.
RULES
Only test systems, accounts, ports and scenarios explicitly provided for the event. Do not scan or attack unrelated devices, services, university infrastructure or other participants.
If you discover something that could affect a real system outside the challenge, stop testing it and report it to the organiser instead of exploiting it.
A failed demo, a routing problem or a case where TaraSec classifies something incorrectly may be the most valuable result of the event.
THE PIZZA PART
The organiser may offer pizza or another small prize for participants at specific TaraSec events. The exact rules, time, venue and any prize are announced locally for each event.
This page describes the general TaraSec Challenge. It does not promise a prize unless the current event announcement specifically says so.
RUN A CHALLENGE
We can use TaraSec's portable hotspot/test environment for a small student event, or work with a university network team on a more structured experiment.
Students are also welcome to turn challenge findings into bachelor, master's or other research projects.
Øystein Torsås
+47 99647892
oystein@taransvar.no
TaraSec is an initiative of Taransvar, Norwegian organisation no. 992 132 027.