A Multiplayer Peer-to-Peer Cyber Attack and Defense Infrastructure

This paper will discuss an infrastructure used for cyber security education. The infrastructure includes a set of identical student network environments and each student will have access to one environment to conduct cyber security experiments. Students will be required to identify other students’ system vulnerabilities and model the actions of the attacks. Students will also need to recognize the attacks from others and apply certain techniques to mitigate other students’ corresponding attacks. The infrastructure will ensure that all of the crafted malicious activities are confined inside the environments. It will provide an isolated environment so no sensitive information can be released to those outside of the infrastructure. To help students learn the knowledge of network security assessments, computer systems’ vulnerabilities exploitation, and intrusion detection and prevention, a series of labs will be designed for students to practice what they have learned and gain hands-on experiences in the field of cyber security. In order to make the labs more manageable and to maximize the effectiveness of navigational instructions, a graphic user interface (GUI) application will be designed. The application will provide a link to all required tools, introductions, and instructions to help students perform the lab activities. The proposed infrastructure will be accessible through a secure Internet connection. With the help of virtualization technology and designed GUI application, students will be able to access the infrastructure anytime and anywhere in the world. Upon completion of these activities, students will be well-prepared and ready to contribute their knowledge and hands-on experiences of cyber security to a high demand workforce.