ISCAP Proceedings: Abstract Presentation
Cybersecurity Program Curriculum Improvement: Integrating Cyber Physical Systems
Cheryl Beauchamp
Regent University
Alfandika Nyandoro
Regent University
Wayne Henry
Air Force Institute of Technology
Stephen Dunlap
Air Force Institute of Technology
Abstract
With a focus on competency development and fulfilling National Center of Academic Excellence (NCAE) re-designation requirements, including academic collaboration, local outreach, and community engagement with the CAE Community, [Institution A] will expand their curricula to provide students with more relevant real-world experiences in both their degree program courses and in competency building Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) Capture the Flag (CTF) events. These CTF events include training and evaluating activities for participants to identify and build necessary skills and knowledge in various subdomains. [Institution A] will construct a red-team versus blue-team CPS CTF platform that integrates [institution A]’s existing supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems. A particular emphasis of this initiative is to combine virtual and physical environments. This approach will give students the opportunity to work with physical hardware, providing them with the opportunity to handle situations a virtual environment may not be able to create. Moreover, a combination of virtual and physical environments provides a nice data and model validation platform for cybersecurity scenarios for training and for research. The project objectives will be met through collaboration between [Institution A] and [Institution B]. [Institution A] will contribute expertise in curriculum development across a range of computing programs at the undergraduate level and at the master's level while [Institution B] brings curriculum development and delivery expertise at the doctoral level. The collaborating institutions will bring these varied experiences and use them to inform improvements to each other’s programs. Working together, they will create and test CPS based scenarios using a CTF format. These CTFs will not only provide improvement feedback from the participants, but additionally, they will provide an opportunity to engage existing and prospective cybersecurity students with hands-on, real-world examples of cybersecurity practices. [Institution A] and [Institution B] will also work together to share program content and methods for integrating CPS learning experiences into existing programs. The outcome of the project includes dissemination of customized CPS integrated courses. Other institutions may leverage the CPS integrated courses to enhance their cybersecurity education programs and prepare their students for industry challenges.