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We explore building a Kubernetes-powered, cloud-based cybersecurity education platform and framework named “EDURange Cloud”. It allows instructors to efficiently design and host their own cybersecurity competitions and exercises. The benefits of this system include enhanced security through isolated instances, cost-effective scaling that adjusts resources based on demand, and the agility to deploy or update challenges rapidly. Originally focused primarily on hosting Capture The Flag (CTF) competitions, the scope of EDURange Cloud will include support for cybersecurity demos and other educational exercises. This evolution will allow for a broader range of educational opportunities within the platform. EDURange Cloud was created as a distributed cloud alternative to the existing EDURange software \cite{Weiss2017Cybersecurity}, leveraging the power of Kubernetes to create an efficient and highly modular cybersecurity education framework. In addition to providing better load balancing and achievement tracking, EDURange Cloud extends the existing project by enabling full GUI desktop environments that are also much more easily customizable compared to command-line restricted exercises. The continued development of this platform could provide a new format for a wide range of hands-on exercises, going beyond just cybersecurity.
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This content will become publicly available on February 18, 2026
Creating Your Own Hands-on Cybersecurity Exercises
Cybersecurity is a topic of growing interest. Do you have hands-on exercises that match the skills and levels of your students? Over the last few years, we have worked on making it easier to create, modify, and deploy exercises with assessment questions. EDURange is an open source project with exercises that span a wide range and can serve as templates for new ones. In addition to providing a framework for editing exercises, EDURange also allows Instructors to see student interaction and offer hints while they are doing the exercise. The features, that support this include chat with the instructor and machine learning algorithms for identifying which students need help. We plan to share some of the existing exercises and show how to adapt them to different students' profiles. We will also share our experiences with the hint system. Participants will gain experience in designing and adapting cybersecurity exercises and writing learning objectives and assessments. All backgrounds are welcome, whether you are new to teaching cybersecurity and have little experience with the command line, or whether you can create a network of containers and bash scripts to configure them. You will come away with a better understanding of how to design and create your own hands-on exercises.
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- PAR ID:
- 10595439
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400705328
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1775 to 1775
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- security and privacy machine learning interactive learning
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Pittsburgh PA USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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