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A Capstone Design Project for Teaching Cybersecurity to Non-technical Users

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Published:28 September 2016Publication History

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a multi-year undergraduate computing capstone project that holistically contributes to the development of cybersecurity knowledge and skills in non-computing high school and college students. We describe the student-built Vulnerable Web Server application, which is a system that packages instructional materials and pre-built virtual machines to provide lessons on cybersecurity to non-technical students. The Vulnerable Web Server learning materials have been piloted at several high schools and are now integrated into multiple security lessons in an intermediate, general education information technology course at the United States Military Academy. Our paper interweaves a description of the Vulnerable Web Server materials with the senior capstone design process that allowed it to be built by undergraduate information technology and computer science students, resulting in a valuable capstone learning experience. Throughout the paper, a call is made for greater emphasis on educating the non-technical user.

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      • Published in

        cover image ACM Conferences
        SIGITE '16: Proceedings of the 17th Annual Conference on Information Technology Education
        September 2016
        188 pages
        ISBN:9781450344524
        DOI:10.1145/2978192

        Copyright © 2016 Public Domain

        This paper is authored by an employee(s) of the United States Government and is in the public domain. Non-exclusive copying or redistribution is allowed, provided that the article citation is given and the authors and agency are clearly identified as its source.

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        Association for Computing Machinery

        New York, NY, United States

        Publication History

        • Published: 28 September 2016

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        Acceptance Rates

        SIGITE '16 Paper Acceptance Rate26of67submissions,39%Overall Acceptance Rate176of429submissions,41%

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