Labtainers: a Docker-based framework for cybersecurity labs
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Authors
Irvine, Cynthia E.
Thompson, Michael F.
McCarrin, Michael
Khosalim, Jean
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2017
Date
Publisher
Language
Abstract
Successful lab designs are a valuable resource that should be re-used and shared among educators and between institutions. A collaborative, community-sourced design effort maximizes the benefit of the effort and expertise required to build and test an effective lab exercise. Unfortunately, infrastructure requirements, heterogeneous operating environments, and the desire to incentivize individual student work pose significant challenges that necessitate frequent updating, redesigning and retesting of assignments, creating a significant maintenance burden. To address these challenges, we present
Labtainers: a container-based framework for the development, deployment and assessment of Linux-based cyber security lab exercises. Docker containers present a consistent environment that reduces the need for frequent updates, but with considerably less overhead than VM-based approaches. This enables a modest laptop to host labs consisting of multiple networked components. As such, the Labtainers framework is able to simulate a variety of security-relevant scenarios on a standalone student
machine, without the need for elaborate infrastructure. Moreover, Labtainers’ scripting support allows exercises to be customized on a per-student basis, then collected and evaluated automatically on the instructor machine. This capability enables the instructor to assign exercises where each solution is unique to the student with little or no increase in complexity of lab setup or assessment.
Type
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Computer Science (CS)
Organization
Naval Postgraduate School (U.S.)
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NPS Report Number
Sponsors
National Science Foundation
Funder
NSF Grant DUE-1140938
Format
Citation
Irvine, C.E., Thompson, M.F., McCarrin, M., Khosalim, J., "Labtainers: a Docker-based framework for cybersecurity labs." 10`7 USENIX Workshop on Advances in Security Education, Vancouver, B.C., August 2017, 6 p.
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.