Cyber-Physical Hacking and Exploit Fundamentals (CHEF) Three-Day Workshop

Attention rising 10th graders or higher! The Middletown Free Library is hosting an exciting and unique three-day workshop in our Makerspace.

The class takes place over three days (Monday-Wednesday), consisting of two days of classroom lectures followed by a one-day hands-on challenge.  During the first day, the class covers an overview of the Linux operating system and computer networking concepts (including IP addresses, ports, and services), and an introduction to an ethical hacking methodology for testing the security of a computer system.  During the second day of lecture, the class continues developing the ethical hacking methodology, diving into some common system vulnerabilities and testing frameworks, as well as providing an introduction to the Python programming language.  Throughout both days, the class also discusses differences between computer systems and controls systems.  On the third day, students will put the skills and concepts they’ve seen during the classroom exercises to work solving a day-long capture-the-flag style challenge.

The class runs from 9:00 AM until about 4:00 PM each day, and students are required to attend the entirety of all three days.  Please bring lunch for the two lecture days (Monday and Tuesday), but pizza will be provided for the challenge day (Wednesday).

Required Skills

This is a fast-paced, challenging computer class covering sophisticated cybersecurity concepts.  Students should be comfortable with computers (particularly working from a command prompt or terminal window) and interested in the challenge of learning new material.  Specific skills are less important than a willingness to think around an unfamiliar problem and the persistence to try different creative solutions until something works.  Although the material is advanced, the class covers everything required to solve the third-day challenge.