Developing Experiential Learning Opportunities for Undergraduate Cyber Security Engineering Students Based in IoT Security: A Work in Progress Report

The Internet of Things, or IoT, is a paradigm in which devices interact with the physical world through sensors and actuators, while still communicating with other computers over various types of networks. IoT devices can be found in many environments, often in the hands of non-technical users. This presents unique security concerns, since compromised devices can be used not only for typical objectives like network footholds, but also to cause harm in the real world (for instance, by unlocking the door to a house or changing safety configurations in an industrial control system). This work in progress paper presents a series of laboratory exercises under development at a large Midwestern university that introduces undergraduate cyber security engineering students to the Internet of Things and its (in)security considerations. The labs will be part of a 400-level technical elective course offered to cyber security engineering majors. The design of the labs has been grounded in the experiential learning process. The concepts in each lab module are couched in hands-on activities and integrate real world problems into the laboratory environment. The laboratory exercises are conducted using an Internet testbed and a combination of actual IoT devices and virtualized devices to showcase various IoT environments, vulnerabilities, and attacks.