Master Thesis scan.net – Interactive Learning Platform for IT Security

Student: Andreas Schorn

Supervisor: Peter Schartner

 

Cyber security training is about training IT security experts and end users in the field of information security. Traditional teaching and learning methods, such as lectures and literature research, however, have been proven inadequate in the field of cyber security. Implementing basic security concepts in real-world environments is difficult for many people as they usually lack knowledge about the specific procedures. With the help of interactive exercises, an attempt is made in a practical way to implement these basic concepts in a realistic environment, and therefore facilitate better understanding of information security.

In this thesis an overview of different variants of cyber security training and cyber security exercises is given. Structure as well as implementation of such exercises, consisting of a secure exercise environment and hacking instructions, is explained in detail. The thesis contains approaches on how cyber security trainings can be implemented in higher education organisations and describes the development and evaluation of a cyber security training platform (scan.net) for lectures at the Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.