Towards the use of containerization technology to educate the cybersecurity engineers of tomorrow

In this paper the authors share an approach for teaching concepts in network services which enhance the learning and skill development of students. Student reviews collected through surveys over the past six years of a BSc in Computing Sciences program indicate that activities focused on project-based learning allow them to better appreciate the theoretical concepts related to the design of networking protocols which are essential in the field of cybersecurity. A limitation on infrastructure needed to implement the activities always places a constraint on achieving such goals. With the advent of virtualization technology, a myriad of labs activities has been created over the past few years to provide students with the much-needed understanding they require and the associated skills to better prepare them for work and research. Virtualization technology does however take a toll on the compute resources available and variation of the experience each student gets. Containerization technology, the next step evolution for virtualization allows a more tamed utilization of compute resources while at the same time providing a uniform experience for all students. The work presented here demonstrates the limitations in containerized compute environments as well as a detailed approach to tailor the environment to achieve important goals and learning outcomes. We also demonstrate the benefits to students and educators in our discussion based on a real-world implementation of our approach.