Search Party CTF 2025.11

After a long wait we’re back with another CTF. This post should give you all the information you need for the upcoming CTF, if there’s still unclarities you can always reach out to us at ctf-support@tracelabs.org.

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Summary

Date: November 15th, 2025

Time: 16:30 - 20:30 UTC (that is 12.30pm - 4.30pm EST and 9.30am - 1.30pm PST)

Price: $20 per contestant

Ticket Purchase: https://tracelabs.org/eventbrite

Registration on Platform (ticket required): https://searchparty.tracelabs.org/register

Communications and Updates: https://tracelabs.org/discord

Training Materials: 

CTF Preparation Guide

Platform Demo

Contestant Briefing

Contestant Guide

Trace Labs OSINT Field Manual

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‍Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is Trace Labs?

It's our mission to leverage the power of the crowd using #OSINT4Good to assist in active missing persons cases. We've striven to create a process and methodology that not only can assist law enforcement with real cases but also introduces people to the field of OSINT in a safe and approachable way.

Letter to the community 

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What is a Search Party?

Our Search Party events are practical CTFs in which the 'flags' correspond to genuine pieces of information relating to real missing persons cases. Teams of up to four people will sketch out the online footprint of a real missing person case. Intelligence is submitted via our CTF platform (linked in the summary above) and vetted in real time by volunteer judges. This gamified process provides structure to the collection process and rewards teams for finding more pieces of intelligence. However, the points are just a by-product of the process and don't really matter. The end result will be a summary report for the law enforcement agency handling the case. Ideally, the information we find will be useful in their investigation.

The CTF has very strict rules of engagement. We are passively collecting information and will not be interacting with anyone directly. For a more complete overview of the competition and its rules, we recommend reading our Contestant Guide.

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How do I register on the CTF website?

Once you have your Eventbrite order ID (emailed to you when you bought your ticket) it's as simple as getting on https://searchparty.tracelabs.org/register to get set up on the platform.

Please see our training playlist for more information about the CTF platform and how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlaJQR699XLt4ib7yWgvaWM7KA12uTlB9

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What do I need to do before the event?

Watch Contestant Briefing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f526PYm6cqU
‍PLEASE NOTE: there is some slightly outdated information in this video and an update will be released prior to the CTF. The information on how to access the platform is correct.

Before the event, you're expected to have read the Contestant Guide.

Make sure to set up and test your sock puppet accounts on major social media platforms.

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Do I need a team to compete?

No. You can compete solo or on a team of up to 4 people.

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Are these events safe?

We've made them as safe as we possibly can. We've put such strict "rules of engagement" in place in order to keep everyone involved safe. We strongly encourage all contestants to create alternate social media accounts (sock puppet accounts) ahead of the event. As long as you have sock puppet accounts set up and abide by our "passive reconnaissance only" rules this is a very safe activity to engage in.

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I'm not a <insert imposter syndrome here> can I still compete?

YES!!!!! The greatest part about OSINT is that all you need is curiosity, problem solving skills and a novel way of looking at the world around you. If you have these things and you follow the rules, this can be your first step into the wide world of intelligence collection and analysis.

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How does the CTF actually work?

Great question. We recommend reading the Contestant Guide, watching our Platform Demo, and viewing previous Contestant Briefings to get a feel for the competition. But a short bullet pointed answer to the question looks like: 

• Missing persons cases can be sourced directly from law enforcement agencies, publicly available missing persons registries or from community submissions. All cases worked must have either an implicit or explicit request for help from the public by the relevant law enforcement agency.
• We've documented a list of data points that could help the relevant law enforcement agency further their investigation. These data points represent the "flags" in the CTF. This is the information your team will be looking for
• Your team will be submitting your intelligence in our CTF platform (linked above). Submissions will be a combination of a URL pointing to your intelligence as well as a brief explanation of the submission from your team. You also have the option to submit a single screenshot with each submission to help your explanation.
• Once a submission is made, a volunteer on the back end will review your submission. If they agree with your submission you will be awarded points. If the reviewer doesn't agree, that submission will be declined and the reviewer will leave feedback explaining their decision.
• WARNING: Please do not attempt to game the system and spam submissions just to get points. We've gamified the intel collection process but all submission decisions are ultimately up to the volunteer on the back end. Please, only submit intelligence you think will be useful in furthering the investigation. There will be text boxes in your submission to explain your reasoning and the value of the submission to the investigation.
• This is a real investigation, it's very possible that you won't find every "flag" for each case.
• After the event, a team of volunteer report writers will summarize the information all the teams submitted for each case.

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What can you expect from Trace Labs?

• A safe and respectful environment to compete in.
• Encouragement and appreciation from the entire team.
• Back end volunteers that we've made every effort to train and support.
• A fun and fulfilling experience.
• A sincere thank you from us on behalf of everyone that will never know you helped them.

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I'm a contestant. How can I talk to my coach during the event?

To speak with your coach, you will need to join our discord (https://tracelabs.org/discord).

Once you have joined the server follow the onboarding process and head to the #get-support channel. In this channel you’ll see a message titled “Open a ticket”. Simply click on the button below the message (make sure you answer yes to “Have you read the FAQ”!) and enter something along the lines of “Communication with coach” as your reason.

After filling out the form, a new channel will be created (this may take a few minutes). As your coach doesn’t have access to this channel yet, you’ll need to give them access. Firstly, find their username on your team's page on our platform. Then run the command `/ticket add user <coachuser>` in your channel. 

Awesome, you can now communicate with your coach!

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Resources

New to OSINT? Where to begin?

Collection of OSINT Tools, Videos, Trainings and Resources from humanDecoded's OSINT Workshop

Trace Labs OSINT Field Manual

Trace Labs Podcast: Breadcrumbs by Trace Labs

Trace Labs Discord: https://tracelabs.org/discord

Trace Labs Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TraceLabsVideos

Books and Trainings from Michael Bazzell: https://inteltechniques.com/books.html

Books by Rae Baker: https://www.raebaker.net/

The OSINT Newsletter: https://osintnewsletter.com/

Forensic OSINT Knowledge Base: https://www.forensicosint.com/osint-guide

Kase Scenarios Narrative Driven OSINT Training: https://kasescenarios.com/

Google: Seriously. Just type “OSINT” into your search engine and see what pops up. Other helpful search terms could include: “SOCMINT”, “Sock Puppet Account”, “People OSINT” and “Open Source Intelligence”

Github “Awesome OSINT” repo: https://github.com/jivoi/awesome-osint

OSINT resources from _OhShint: https://ohshint.gitbook.io/oh-shint-its-a-blog/

OSINT resources from Belouve: https://github.com/belouve/osint-resource

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