Ryan Heathcote Engineer. Teacher. Dreamer.

Liberty University GenCyber Summer Camp

I am teaching Linux Security again this year at Liberty University’s GenCyber Summer Camp. The camp involves taking 36 High School students divided into teams, each of which is given network of servers to administer. Their networks feature both Linux and Windows Operating Systems, various web applications (as diverse as WordPress, Gitlab, and Jenkins), and an OpenSense Firewall, configured insecurely to provide a significant challenge to the students. We spend 4 days teaching the students some Information Security theory, and as much as we can about securing all their servers, before they are subjected on the last day to a live attack by a Red Team of professional penetration testers. It makes for an intense week of drinking from a firehose for the students, and creative thinking for the instructors. At the same time, being presented with a seemingly insurmountable challenge often results in the best fun human beings can have.

I taught the Linux security section of the course last year, so this year I’ve made a bunch of improvements on my lesson based on books I’ve read on teaching, and the lessons learned from last year’s overwhelming Red Team success. We instructors are hoping this year we can actually make life challenging / interesting for Red Team. If you are curious what my materials look like, or if you are a student, go to my lessons for the camp.