Case Studies/OpenSecurityTraining
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Overview
There is already a wealth of computer security information openly available in the form of text files or short video tutorials. Different people learn better in different ways. Therefore this site is dedicated specifically to conveying security information in the form of structured instructor-led classes which are one or more days long.
License Usage
The site encourages contributors to use a CC-BY-SA license. We want materials to be reusable by other instructors for both paid and unpaid training, but we also want material to continue to be contributed to the site.
Motivations
Attacks evolve much faster than defenses in the computer security realm. Furthermore, defenders have to defend a very large (but amorphous) base, while attackers need to only become the pointed end of a spear in a focused area of limited expertise. The only way to combat this problem is to significantly raise the population and baseline knowledge of security defenders. Current for-profit approaches will leave everyone vulnerable as they do not scale. Therefore this site was created to share class videos directly with students, and class materials directly with instructors. This allows for scalable reaching of student population, and viral spreading of class teaching opportunities from one instructor to the next.
For more on the site motivation, see here.
Impact
At the time of writing (March 19th 2013), the videos for classes have been viewed over 90k times on youtube, and 22k times on archive.org. The site has had over 60k unique visitors accessing over 315k pages. Dozens of instructors have provided feedback that they have used portions of class materials in their own classes.
Media
- OpenSecurityTraining.info
- 'R0x0r Arcade' security training games
- Archive.org video channel
- Youtube video channel