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<b:Tag>talk:brucker:cloud-in-security-teaching:2026</b:Tag>
<b:SourceType>Misc</b:SourceType>
<b:Author>
<b:Author><b:NameList>
<b:Person><b:Last>Brucker</b:Last><b:First>Achim</b:First><b:Middle>D</b:Middle></b:Person>
</b:NameList></b:Author>
</b:Author>
<b:Title>Using Cloud-Hosted Virtual Machines in Teaching Computer and Network Security</b:Title>
<b:Comments>The widespread availability of AI tools introduces new challenges in education, particularly in teaching and assessing applied skills through hands-on activities. In computer and network security courses, additional hurdles arise due to strict network policies enforced by universities and other organizations. To address these challenges, we employ cloud-hosted virtual machines (VMs) that allow the use of security testing tools and provide students with administrative privileges – practices typically restricted by university IT policies. Hosting the system in the cloud enables students to access the VMs remotely, including from off-campus locations. This flexibility proved especially valuable during the COVID-19 pandemic, when remote learning was necessary. Additionally, we extended this setup to support individualized assessments in the form of a capture-the-flag (CTF) competition. In this presentation, we describe our cloud-based VM teaching and assessment infrastructure and report on our experiences using it in an introductory computer and network security course, mandatory for all undergraduate computer science students.</b:Comments>
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