Hands-on cybersecurity exercises and the rave virtual environment (abstract only)

Abstract

This workshop is intended for anyone who would like to use hands-on exercises in cybersecurity for a variety of classes including Networking, OS, Computer Security and Software Engineering. It has received increased attention nationally in the proposed ACM/IEEE CS2013 Curricula Guidelines. The goal of this workshop is to provide faculty with varied backgrounds (including none) in this area with some tools and interactive exercises to facilitate incorporating this knowledge area into their curriculum. We believe that it is important that students develop analytical skills, thus we include an introduction to EDURange1 and the Hacker Curriculum principles: (1) understanding failure modes and (2) seeing across or through layers of abstraction according to a particular scenario. We will guide attendees through exercises tailored to their level and interests. The exercises will include port scanning and setting up a firewall. These can be done at a range of levels from beginner to advanced. We will include an introduction to tools for packet inspection, which is an important part of analysis. Attendees will receive accounts on the RAVE2 with exercises that they can take back and use immediately with their classes. RAVE provides a number of VMs pre-configured for the exercises. RAVE is also a general purpose technology for other hands-on exercises. Laptop required.