Red Teaming
You’re now part of an inside job! Season 6 brings you into the world of heists
Your third rift has brought you some sense of normalcy. But don’t get too comfy, there’s work to be done.
JXoaT,
Jul 23
2024
Table of Contents
The last anomaly to escape its enclosure is shuttered by a massive blast door, as you’ve managed to bring Haymaker back to 100% operation. Agent Rhia approaches swiftly as you bring yourself away from the last workstation.
Agent Rhia: “Hey, turns out your friend left you a simple cipher. We found this while you were bringing the machines back online.”
She hands you a printout with a simple cipher:
enNpenFEUi81NDJxYWRpei9zcHB0eXBtQmZtamw=H
Agent Rhia: “It turns out to be some nonsense address—I think you’ll find more answers through your next rift. And, it looks like your ride is here.”
She points to a camera facing the loading bay. A rift’s spirals grow and warp, causing the footage to appear unstable.
Agent Tex: “Ugh, Rhia. Does that thing look like it's growing?”
They were right. Stranger yet, it seems to have opened without the assistance of any tech- like scissors had cut out some cosmic circle.
You rush to the room and steel your nerves for whatever’s ready to greet you on the other side.
A final glance back at agents Rhia and Tex, who are offering up a lighthearted salute as you begin to fade into the unknown of the Rift.
Yourk Nu City
As you open your eyes, you survey your surroundings with the urgency you've collected from your last two jumps.
No apex predators. No anomalies.
It's just a normal alleyway.
You begin to walk forward and take in the sights and sounds of a bustling city. High rises, streets congested with traffic, and crowds of people going about their daily lives. A sense of normalcy washes over you as you join the streams of people walking down the main street.
It dawns on you that no challenge has immediately presented itself. The only clue you have begins with the address in the cipher Rhia left. As you surf through crowds, your eyes scan for a way to navigate.
You approach a stranger, a woman with a kind face, and ask for directions. She points you in the right direction, and you're relieved to find out you're only a 20-minute walk away. You thank her and blend into the crowd of commuters.
Navigating the city wasn’t tricky. You promptly arrive at a cafe that seems to be empty. As you walk through the garden towards the cafe door, you notice a man sitting alone in the center of the cafe.
Without looking back to acknowledge you, he waves his hand, motioning you to join him at his table.
You sit down; as you do, the unknown man pushes a cup of coffee before you.
Cyrus: “So, you’re the hacker? I was making bets on what you’d look like.”
He begins to lay down materials from a manila envelope. In the fold of information are blueprints of a corporate building, schematics that look like a rudimentary Rift, and dossiers of 4 different individuals.
Cyrus: “Here’s the deal. We’ve been hired to recover information stolen by the Blackwell Korp. They are a smaller subsidiary of a major entity, mainly focused on R&D. They lifted the patent from a friend of mine. Our job is to take it back and ensure no trace is left. It’s all there.”
He picks up and hands you the 4 dossiers. You comb through them, learning fragments about seemingly random individuals and their skill sets.
Cyrus: “Those will be your compatriots for our little project. Pros who’ve all worked with each other on previous tech-related gigs. When they work together, they go by ‘4DSEC.’ I’ve never asked why, nor do I care to know.”
He leaned back in his chair, picking up a picture of the Blackwell building. He looked at it with vague intrigue, pulling it closer and then pushing it away from his face, quickly losing interest.
Cyrus: “Your role is to help gain access to Blackwell and locate where they’re storing this information on their network. The rest of the crew will handle initial access and clean-up particulars. We need an all-arounder who deals with any internal problems we may run into.”
After he senses you’ve sponged most of the info, he smiles.
“Right.”
He waves all the materials off the table into the file with one hand and holds his hand out for the rest. As you hand him the dossiers, he adds them to the fold.
Cyrus: “You’ll rendezvous with 4DSEC outside this coffee shop. The Blackwell building is only two blocks from here. I’d take the rest of your day to rest. You have a long night ahead of you.”
He stands up, checks his watch, and heads for the door, waving his hand over his head as he walks towards the exit.
Cyrus: “Oh, and I’ve been told to give you something if you pull this off. No pressure.”
Season 5 recap
That’s a wrap! As we close the chapter on Season 5, we extend our heartfelt congratulations to all participants. You all got the Haymaker facility back online and locked away those anomalies with ease.
Your dedication to every week is incredibly humbling. More and more, we are seeing new challengers take their spots on the Season leaderboard and challenging themselves to grow with us.
We hope that we continue to provide the experience that brings you back each time!
Without further ado, let’s give a shoutout to our winners. It looks like we have a new face on the leaderboard!
Top players
NLTE, a huge congratulations on making your debut in the top three and for seizing the top spot in your very first showing! Also, I see you climbing higher on the leaderboard celesian. Also, it doesn’t feel like a leaderboard without seeing xct putting up numbers. 👀
You have all done an incredible job leading the way. 👏
Top teams
Additionally, we want to shout out the teams who collectively set the bar this Season! Surprise, surprise! TheATeam has found their place at the top once again. They have etched their place as legends at this point.
Here are our top teams for this Season:
You have all shown dedication to the competitive spirit of this Season. Our goal is to watch you grow and see you climb higher with your peers. If you’re in silver, set out to hit ruby in the next Season. If you’re holo, I’d love to see you rise to the top!
What's new in Season 6
Point system updates help you find
Ever wonder if how another player is beating you on the leaderboard? Well, our new "Last Own" column point system upgrade has you covered.
This section is a timezone-agnostic column that tracks tiebreakers using hours and minutes from when you got your last own. It will show a timestamp that shows the difference between the last owned and now.
Our aim is to give you more context on your placing among your peers. You should see this change happen during the Season itself. 💪
The prizes are piling up!
This Season we are moving back to discounts for both HTB Labs and Annual Academy plans! We took inspiration from our Season’s survey to find a middle ground. Your efforts on our platform should reward you with more play time to help you stay sharp and continue growing!
Additionally, be on the lookout for a special announcement later on in the Season! We have been waiting for a while to step-up what you can do with your swag discounts. So, we are going to try something new.
Tips for Season success
Find a team on Discord
We have a new Seasons section on Discord! In the announcements channel you’ll find Machines releases, Seasonal coverage, Season-related surveys, and more to come!
Most importantly, our find-a-team forum has been taking off! People have been centering teams around:
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Geography
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Interests
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Experience levels
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HTB goals
If you’re looking to create a space for new teammates, or want to join an established team, you’ll find what you’re looking for in Discord.
Release Arena
Are you free-to-play users looking to gain an edge? Switch over to our Release Arena!
For those unfamiliar, Release Arena operates on a dedicated VPN, allowing users to engage with machines in an isolated performance-efficient environment!
You can make the switch by toggling to Release Arena in your VPN settings.
Remember, access is live from Saturday to Wednesday and has limited pre-spawned machines. Be sure to make the switch and try it for yourself!
There is honor among thieves.
Get ready for the Season of Thieves!
Are you ready for the gig? Help 4DSEC get back the vital work of Cyrus’ unknown ally. We are aiming to bring you Season. So, be sure to check in on August 3rd to start earning your spot on the leaderboard.
