Cyber Security Foundations

My Tech High’s Utah Cyber Range, powered by U.S. Cyber Range, expands cybersecurity education for interested students in Utah.  One goal of the Utah Cyber Range is to increase the number of fully prepared students entering the cybersecurity workforce in operations, development, and research.

In partnership with My Tech High, the Utah Cyber Range provides students with full access to course materials, Utah-certified Computer Science teachers, and a cloud-hosted Exercise Area environment for hands-on cybersecurity labs and exercises.

Key Features of the Exercise Area (“The Range”):

• Students access range VMs through web browsers; no special software needed.
• Cloud-based approach allows fast deployment and scalability.
• Eases the burden on Utah schools of providing infrastructure for cybersecurity labs.
• Large-scale exercises and a capture-the-flag environments are available.

What You’ll Learn

• Become familiar with the Linux OS as well as many of the tools used in cybersecurity
• Understand the basics of cybersecurity and its principles
• Describe some common cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities
• Install and use virtualization software
• Understand layered network models
• Use software tools to examine network traffic
• Describe basic network defense tools
• Explain basic cryptography terminology (plaintext, ciphertext, cipher, key, encipher, decipher, cryptanalysis, cryptology)
• Understand the benefits of encryption
• Apply techniques for encrypting and decrypting files
• Describe techniques for passive network reconnaissance
• Describe attacks on and apply tools to attack password hash files
• Understand and exploit known web application vulnerabilities
• Describe importance of ethical behavior when engaging in cybersecurity activities

What You’ll Experience

The goal of this course is to provide a basic and broad overview of cybersecurity, helping the student to understand correct and safe online behavior and increase their interest in cybersecurity and careers in the cybersecurity workforce. In this course, we will explore various cybersecurity topics to include networking and network security tools, cryptography (ciphers, keys, digital signatures, hashes, encryption protocols, etc.), hacking basics (network reconnaissance and scanning, password cracking, and exploiting web application vulnerabilities), and the legal and ethical considerations of cybersecurity activities.

System Requirements

• Latest updated browser – Firefox, Chrome or Safari
• PC: Windows 7 or higher
• Mac: Mac OS X 10.7 or higher