Teaching hands-on Linux host computer security

In the summer of 2003, a project to augment and improve the teaching of information assurance courses was started at IUP. Thus far, ten hands-on exercises have been developed. The exercises described in this article, and presented in the appendix, are based on actions required to secure a Linux host. Publicly available resources were used to develop the exercises, which have been successfully utilized since spring 2003 to teach cybersecurity basics classes. The experiences and challenges encountered in teaching the course and possible future work are also described.