Hands-on Cybersecurity Labs in online learning
Abstract: Cybersecurity is frequently mentioned today as one of the necessary competences of the future in the field of information technology. Along with the global digitization of services, the demand for cybersecurity specialists continues to grow. At the same time, there are still very few specialists in this field, with 5 million jobs currently going unfilled worldwide. The key issue facing the education process in the field is the development of hands-on skills. This article presents the concepts and architecture of interactive and hands-on cybersecurity laboratories that are accessible from anywhere and at any time. We also present a case study of a one-semester Cybersecurity course undertaken by 188 students. This article shows that hands-on cybersecurity tasks have a significant impact on student engagement. Additionally, the results show that, by using practical laboratories available on the CyberSkiller platform, we increase the knowledge and skills of the students.