Getting Started

Welcome to CSAW 365, let's get you ready to start solving challenges.

First if you haven't already you should create an account on CSAW 365.

Next, in order to connect to our server based challenges you will need to setup a VPN client:

We're big fans of SparkLabs Viscosity but the following instructions are for OpenVPN because Viscosity isn't free.

  1. Download the OpenVPN Installer for Windows


  2. Install the OpenVPN client. You can leave all of the settings in the installer default.


  3. Right click the OpenVPN icon in the taskbar and go into Settings.

  4. Under "Advanced" change the "Extension" for "Configuration Files" to "conf"


  5. Download your VPN configuration files.
  6. Now you will need to copy over the vpn keys into the OpenVPN configuration folder.
    • Press Windows + R on your keyboard to bring up the `Run` dialog

    • Enter in %USERPROFILE%\OpenVPN\config and hit "Okay"


  7. Drag the CSAW 365 VPN key files into the %USERPROFILE%\OpenVPN\config folder.


  8. Go into the taskbar, right click the OpenVPN icon and click on "Connect"


  9. You should get a message indicating that you're connected!

We're big fans of SparkLabs Viscosity but the following instructions are for TunnelBlick because Viscosity isn't free. However, most of the instructions are the same.

  1. Download your VPN configuration files.
  2. Unzip the VPN configuration files
  3. Download and install TunnelBlick
  4. On TunnelBlick's welcome message select "I have configuration files"
  5. Select "Only Me" if asked to install the configuration for all users
  6. The configuration should now be successfully installed.
  7. Try to connect to the "csaw365" VPN from the menu bar.
  8. If asked about a "down-root" plugin, select "Always use this plugin"
  1. Run sudo apt-get install openvpn or similar in your Terminal so that you install the openvpn client.
  2. Download your VPN configuration files.
  3. Unzip the VPN configuration files
  4. Run openvpn csaw365.conf
  5. You're done!

Next it will be much easier to solve problems if you setup software to run Virtual Machines:

VMWare Player is the preferred free way to setup Virtual Machines on Windows.

VMWare Player Product Page

We strongly recommend purchasing VMWare Fusion to run Virtual Machines on OSX. If you're unable to use VMWare Fusion you can use another virtualization software (hypervisor). A popular free hypervisor is Virtualbox.

Virtublbox Website

VMWare Player is the preferred free way to setup Virtual Machines on Linux distributions.

VMWare Player Product Page