Foundations & Risk Management
Knowledge Goals:
- Define the CIA Triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability).
- Understand Risk = Likelihood × Impact.
Student Skills:
- Evaluate trade-offs between security and usability.
- Perform qualitative risk assessments.
Concept Demo
Visualizing Trade-offs: Students drag sliders to see that you cannot have 100% Security AND 100% Usability. Perfect security is a brick buried in concrete.
Balanced
Network Security & Protocols
Knowledge Goals:
- TCP/IP Handshakes and Encapsulation.
- Difference between HTTP (Plain) and HTTPS (Encrypted).
Student Skills:
- Analyze packet captures (Wireshark logic).
- Configure basic firewall blocking rules.
Attack Demo
Packet Sniffing: Shows why public Wi-Fi is dangerous. Unencrypted packets reveal data instantly.
PWD
🔒
Waiting for traffic...
Defense Demo
Firewall Logic: Students learn that firewalls act as gates. Closing port 80 blocks web traffic.
User
Server
Identity & Access Management (IAM)
Knowledge Goals:
- Authentication factors (Know, Have, Are).
- Brute force attacks vs. Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA).
Student Skills:
- Implement strong password policies.
- Understanding the MFA user flow.
Attack Demo
Brute Force: Visually demonstrates how fast a computer can guess weak passwords vs. the complexity of strong ones.
****
Status: Locked
Defense Demo
MFA Flow: Shows that knowing the password isn't enough. The second channel (phone) blocks the attack.
Login Screen
Locked
Operations & Incident Response
Knowledge Goals:
- The Incident Response Lifecycle (NIST).
- Importance of logs and monitoring.
Student Skills:
- Identify anomalies in log files.
- Execute containment measures during an active attack.
Simulation
Live SOC Monitor: Students must watch the live logs. When a "Critical" alert appears, they must hit the "Isolate" button to stop the attack. Teaches reaction speed.
[SYSTEM] Service started...
[INFO] User login: Alice
SYSTEM NORMAL
Capstone Project
Knowledge Goals:
- Synthesizing Network, Identity, and Ops knowledge.
- Building holistic defense architectures.
Student Skills:
- Design a secure infrastructure from scratch.
- Balance budget, usability, and security controls.
Capstone Tool
Architecture Builder: A simplified tool where students toggle security controls to see how they affect the "Security Score" vs "Budget".
Security Score
0
Vulnerable