Hacktivity Cyber Security Labs: A Platform for Cyber Security Education with Randomised Challenges, Virtualisation Infrastructure Management, and CyBOK Integration

We present Hacktivity Cyber Security Labs, a novel technical framework and hosted lab infrastructure platform. Hacktivity uniquely addresses limitations in traditional cyber security education methods, particularly through extensive incorporation of randomisation of cyber security and hacking challenges, integration of automated chatbots, provisioning and managing of VMs and datacenter clusters, and integration with the Cyber Security Body of Knowledge (CyBOK) for curriculum alignment and individualised tracking of knowledge and experience. In this paper we present the technical design details of Hacktivity and our open-source backend framework, SecGen, and reflect on our experience of integrating it into security courses. By leveraging the SecGen framework for automatic problem generation, Hacktivity provides randomised challenges and hands-on tasks, enriching experiential learning for students. The close integration with CyBOK enables students to better understand the alignment of modules with knowledge areas and monitor and reflect on their learning progress. We present our experience of the platform’s effectiveness in teaching a wide range of technical cyber security topics. This paper introduces our innovative approach to teaching computer security, leveraging SecGen, an open-source software, multiple virtualisation data centres, and Hacktivity, a new virtualisation management and virtual learning environment.