Objective:
Students will begin preparing for competition in the National Cyber League by participating in CyberStart America, an immersive cybersecurity training game for high school students.
Links:
Topics Discussed:
- Cyber Security
- CyberStart America
Assignment:
- Welcome back! I hope your holidays were happy and restful! We are going to switch gears as we work towards competition in the National Cyber League and/or Security + Certification at the end of the month.
- In the interest of providing you with more hands-on experience with cybersecurity concepts, I am pleased to introduce CyberStart America, an immersive cybersecurity training game for high school students, where you will take the role of an agent with the “Cyber Protection Agency” and solve challenging puzzles based on real-world situations that you might face as a cybersecurity professional.
- Visit the CyberStart America website and register for a free account using your haydenmagnet.org email address. You will need to access your haydenmagnet.org Gmail, as the website sends several confirmation emails in sequence. Be sure to keep your Gmail open until you receive the third confirmation email that allows you to set a password before you proceed with the challenges.
- Start with the Intern Base to get a feel for what it’s like to work in cybersecurity. You may work at your own pace, and even work from home if you choose to do so. Remember that these challenges start easy and get harder as you progress, so don’t skip forward too far!
- Are you completely confused by any particular challenge? Consult the Field Manual! Click the “Field Manual” link in the upper left corner of the website to view background info on the concepts presented in the challenges, and even watch walkthrough videos (Chapter 07) if you’re completely stumped.
- You may work at your own pace, and use any resources that you have available to you to complete the challenges (even other students!)
- Do you want to work together with a partner or squad up with a group? Click on the “Groups” link at the top of the page, and click “Create Group” to get a group code that you can share with your crew to squad up and tackle the challenges as a team!
- Make sure you join my “NetOp P6” group so I can track your progress, as well. See me for the Join code if you haven’t joined already.
- We will continue working with CyberStart America for the next three weeks. At the end of the three weeks, I will buy lunch for the individual or team with the highest point total. Grind solo and get all the food for yourself, or choose your teammates wisely and have a victory feast with your friends!
- Good luck, and have fun with the challenges! Bear in mind that the National Cyber League competition will begin at the end of the month. Those who are not studying for Security + certification will begin practicing in the NCL Gym when our accounts become available.
Assigned: January 4th, 2022
Teacher Pacing Due Date: January 21st, 2022