The document describes a virtual machine-based laboratory environment for teaching practical cybersecurity skills. The environment uses Kali Linux, Metasploitable, and FreeBSD virtual machines. It includes a set of structured labs covering topics like password hacking and network attacks. Future work directions include updating vulnerable systems, adding platforms and devices, and automating grading. The goal is to provide a simple yet effective way to educate students in an authentic offensive security context.

1. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
A Simple Laboratory Environment
for Real-World Offensive Security Education
Maxim Timchenko David Starobinski
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Boston University
SIGCSE’15, March 7, 2015
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2. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Outline
1. Motivation / Goals
2. Environment
3. Labs
4. Future Work
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3. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Goals for a Laboratory Environment
Must Have
• Security
• Separation
Stretch Goals
• Redundancy
• Persistence
Simple
• Simple to install and use
• Reuse available parts
• This is an introductory course
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4. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
“Real-world” and “Offensive”
• Practice topics using tools common within the industry
• Discuss actual exploits, demonstrate issues vividly
• Metasploit modules
• Social engineering
• Cover current events (e.g. 2014: Shellshock, Heartbleed)
• Attacker mindset vs. developer mindset
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5. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Environments
Local isolated network containing actual hardware
• Expensive
• Limited flexibility
• Limited sharing
Photo: Leonardo Rizzi, Flickr, Creative Commons
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6. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Environment Virtualization
Centralized On Premises
• Set-up and maintenance
• Limited scaling
• Example: Tele-Lab [10]
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7. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Environment Virtualization
Cloud
• More complex architecture
• Expensive scaling
• Potentially, worst responsiveness
(traffic and delay)
• Example: Salah [6] on AWS
• Yesterday: Weiss et al. - EDUrange
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8. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Environment Virtualization
Local
• Easy set-up
• No scaling issues
• Best responsiveness
• Example: SEED [2] on
VMWare/VirtualBox
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9. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Detailed Environment Architecture
Lab Workstation
“Attacker”
Kali Linux VM
“Target”
Metasploitable VM
“Zombie”
FreeBSD 6 VM
BU Intranet,
Internet gateway
File Server
for VM Images
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10. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
VM Image Sets
Lab Workstation
File Server
for VM Images
Carol
Bob
Alice
Local non-persistent
environmentReference Image
Persistent Student
Environments
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11. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
The Attacker - Kali Linux
• Pentesting and Auditing
• Based on Debian Wheezy
• Hundreds of tools
• Top 10: Aircrack, Burp Suite,
Hydra, John, Maltego,
Metasploit, NMAP, ZAP,
SQLmap, Wireshark
• Maintained by Offensive
Security
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12. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
The Target - Metasploitable 2
• Intentionally Vulnerable VM
• Based on Ubuntu
• Many vulnerabilities of various
obviousness
• Two intentionally vulnerable
web applications (DWVA,
Mutillidae)
• No GUI
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13. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Resource Requirements
OS Memory Use, MB (4GB RAM)
Kali
Metasploitable
FreeBSD 6
Host OS
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
Disk Use,
GB
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14. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Studying Cybersecurity Anywhere
Photo: Alper Cugun, Flickr, CC-BY 2.0 — Whitehat Icon: Open Security Architecture, CC-BY-SA
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15. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Audience
• A mix of undergraduate and graduate students
• A variety of skill levels
• Requirements: a programming language, basics of Linux
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16. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Existing Lab Sets
The SEED Project [2]
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17. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Existing Lab Sets
The SEED Project [2] OWASP Hackademic [5]
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18. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Existing Lab Sets
The SEED Project [2] OWASP Hackademic [5]
Many papers containing
one or two labs each
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19. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Existing Lab Sets
The SEED Project [2] OWASP Hackademic [5]
Many papers containing
one or two labs each
Internet tutorials, e.g. “How to use
Metasploit to hack X”
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20. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Lab Topics and Dependencies
Introduction
Law and Ethics Search Engine Hacking
Network Utilities Network Attacks
Password Hacking
Intrusion Detection
Metasploit
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21. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Network Attacks Lab
• Zombie scan with nmap
• ARP Poisoning
• DNS resolving and caching
• DNS Poisoning
• Example: poison
Metasploitable’s DNS and
replace one website with another
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22. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Sample Lab Page
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23. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Sample Solution Page
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24. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Production Workflow (PDF)
HTML
Source
Common
Stylesheet
Lab
Stylesheet
Solution
Stylesheet
Print
Stylesheet
Print
JavaScript
Prince Prince
Lab PDF
Solution
PDF
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25. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Production Workflow (HTML)
HTML
Source
Common
Stylesheet
Lab
Stylesheet
Solution
Stylesheet
HTML
Proc.
Lab HTML
Solution
HTML
Processing
Rules
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26. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Directons for Future Work
• Updates to Metasploitable
• Easier modifications to Metasploitable
• Adding other OS images and platforms
• Adding network device simulation
(routers, peripherals)
• Automated grading
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27. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Summary
• A virtual-machine based environment for teaching practical
cybersecurity
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28. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Summary
• A virtual-machine based environment for teaching practical
cybersecurity
• A set of structured labs based on the environment
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29. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Summary
• A virtual-machine based environment for teaching practical
cybersecurity
• A set of structured labs based on the environment
• Directions for future work
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30. Motivation Environment Labs Future Work Summary
Thank you for your attention!
The sources for this talk and several of the labs can be found in our
GitHub repository:
https://github.com/maxvt/cyberlabs
Contact the authors at:
• staro@bu.edu
• maxvt@bu.edu, @maxvt
• http://nislab.bu.edu/
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