Using Cybersecurity Exercises as Essential Learning Tools in Universities

Abstract

Capture-the-flag (CTF) contests play a well-established role in the cybersecurity culture, being at once skill-testing grounds and community-building platforms. While these contests provide education benefits, their adaptation to academic objectives is not straightforward, since the competitive nature of CTFs makes them more appropriate for knowledge evaluation than acquisition. In this paper we present the preparing, deploying and evaluating a cybersecurity exercise for university students. Our work aims to stimulate students for a career in cybersecurity, evaluate their experience and collect feedback. We detail our experience in organizing the exercise; we also present student feedback and draw conclusions and lessons learned on using cybersecurity exercises as educational tools.