GenCyber Student Camp 2018

The 2018 GenCyber Student Camp at Boise State University was a free, full-day, one-week program that introduced high school students in Boise and nearby to cybersecurity first principles and the rapidly developing field of cybersecurity. Using hands-on activities, students engaged with applied cryptography, Raspberry Pi 3 set up and security, threats, risks, network traffic analysis, penetrating testing, and virtualization practices.

When & Where:

Two camps were offered in the Boise State Computer Science Department in downtown Boise (777 West Main St. Boise, ID 83702). The first camp was held July 9, 2018 – July 13, 2018 (Girls only) and the second camp was held July 16, 2018 – July 20, 2018 (Girls and Boys) with camp starting at 8:30am and ending at 4:30pm. Breakfast and lunch were provided. The priority application deadline was Wednesday, May 30th, 2018 after which new applications continued to be considered until spots were filled.

Objectives:

The GenCyber Student Camp at Boise State University was designed for high school students (entering grades 9-12) in Southwest Idaho and the Boise area to:

• introduce and cement knowledge of cybersecurity first principles
• increase the curiosity of the participants in the field of cybersecurity
• encourage participants to seek further education in cybersecurity
• motivate participants to seek a career in cybersecurity

Topics:

Topics included online cybersecurity awareness, cryptography, device security, device and network privacy, wireshark, iptables, sqlmap and Raspberry Pi 3 was taught in class, from which students were exposed to several cyberesecurity first principles.

Class Form:

Team-Based Learning (TBL), an Evidence-Based Instructional Practice, was used to create an engaged community of learners.

Preliminaries:

No cybersecurity or computer programming background or experience was needed to apply. At camp onset, students completed a survey to assess their cybersecurity knowledge. Based on survey results, facilitators put student in groups that best help them progress toward a stronger understanding of computer science principles. Additional staff engaged with novice-level learners.

Contact:

If you have any questions or need any further information, please contact the Computer Science Department at computerscience@boisestate.edu or (208) 426-5766

Project sponsored by the National Security Agency under Grant/Cooperative Agreement Boise State University GenCyber Grant Number H98230-181-0086. Any opinions findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Security Agency.