Developing Cyber Warriors from Computer Engineers et al.
Barry Mullins · 2020
Abstract Developing Cyber Warriors from Computer Engineers et al.AbstractThis paper discusses the development of a successful cyber warfare curriculum for computer andelectrical engineering students at the ________________. We leverage two traits exhibited bymany engineers as we continually improve the curriculum. First, engineers are inherentlyinquisitive and notorious for disassembling things to better understand how they work. Second,the most effective pedagogical technique is to make the subject interesting and fun. This paperdescribes how we teach various computer-related topics by first teaching how things (e.g.,computer networks and computer architecture) work in prerequisite courses and then teachingthe students how to “break” them using cyber operations in our Cyber Attack course. We findstudents truly learn when challenged with defeating a computer protocol or architecture.This paper outlines our cyber warfare curriculum with emphasis on our Cyber Attack and CyberDefense course sequences. The paper focuses on methods used to teach the various phases ofcyber attack to computer and electrical engineers, computer scientists, cyber operators as well asother technical majors. The paper also addresses our participation in the US National SecurityAgency-sponsored Cyber Defense Exercise (CDX). The overarching goal of the curriculum is toprovide students with an understanding of how to attack and defend in the cyber domain usingthe CDX, as well as numerous course-oriented exercises, as proven effective teaching tools.Identifying and collecting metrics for determining success in any course can be difficult. We usethe results of national exercises (e.g., CDX), student feedback in the form of anonymous onlinecritiques and test scores as our metrics. Results show the students are learning the finer points ofcomputer systems as they hone their cyber warrior skills necessary to defend our informationsystems.