If the archive prompted for a password, use or hashcat : Extract the hash: 7z2john BWAS.7z > bwas.hash

Depending on the specific challenge version, the "hook" is usually one of the following:

The archive is protected by a password that can be found via a wordlist (like rockyou.txt ).

Open files in hexedit to look for the "CTF{...}" string.

Extract the hidden contents (usually a flag.txt or a sensitive document) from the compressed archive. 1. Initial Analysis