Task 1 – Participation of teaching staff in cyber security onsite training at universities in the United States – Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) and Florida International University (FIU) in Miami.
As part of the task, teaching staff implementing IMPK will participate in dedicated cybersecurity training courses conducted at Universities in the United States (FIU, RIT).
The Global Cybersecurity Institute at the University of Rochester Institute of Technology’s within the Cyber Range and Training Center will provide IMPK teaching staff with training in the topic of penetration testing, cloud security, incident response, threat analysis and IoT sensor security for SCADA systems. This trip will provide access to the world’s most modern laboratories within the discussed scope, not available at Polish universities.
Also specialists from the National Forensic Science Technology Center at Florida International University in Miami will provide IMPK teaching staff with specialized training in digital forensics, network forensics, mobile forensics as well as video and image forensics. Participation in the courses, will allow meeting the main objective of the project, which is to develop and provide IMPK in accordance with the latest standards and trends in building and securing modern ICT systems. In addition, participation in highly specialized training courses, conducted by prestigious and world renown centers, will allow the project to meet the objective of raising the quality of teaching staff. At the same time, by obtaining the confirmation of the staff quality through certification, further goals of the project concerning increasing the competitiveness of the university on the international market and confirming the high level of education will be met. Participation in the onsite courses offered by the above-mentioned US universities, ready to offer dedicated courses for teaching staff implementing IMPK, will enable increase in international cooperation. In addition, it will allow the presentation of the teaching staff and the establishment of cooperation also in the scientific field.
Task 2 – Participation of teaching staff in the worldwide recognized online training courses on issues included in the IMPK framework.
Within the framework of the task, teaching staff implementing the IMPK will participate in recognized training courses on building IoT systems, securing ICT systems and analyzing them in terms of security, as well as analyzing large data sets.
It is anticipated that the teaching staff will participate in online courses, which are provided by leading cyber security centers and by the providers of cyber security solutions, such as: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Escal Institute of Advanced Technologies (SANS Institute), Check Point Security Academy. Participation in the courses will also, in most cases, make it possible to obtain prestigious certifications in the above mentioned scopes. Participation in such courses is expected: MIT – Professional Certificate in Cybersecurity, SANS – FOR308: Digital Forensics Essentials, Check Point – Hacking 101 Check Point Certified PenTesting Associate (CCPA), University of Adelaide – Transform big data into business insights and solutions as part of the MicroMasters® Program in Big Data.
In the framework of the task dedicated to the preparation of teaching staff in online courses, the attendance in the courses on data transmission security in local and wide area networks is not anticipated. This is thanks to the presence of specialists with many years of experience in this field among the teaching staff, , who are also certified by recognized training centers such as: CISCO, Huawei, Palo Alto. Participation in trainings and courses on the topics discussed in the IMPK offered by the most important centers in the world, as well as obtaining certification in this area, will allow to meet the main objective of the project, i.e. to develop and provide IMPK in accordance with the latest standards and trends in the field of construction and security of modern ICT systems. In addition, participation in highly specialized training courses, conducted by prestigious, globally recognized centers, will allow to meet the project’s goal, which is to increase the quality of teaching staff. At the same time, by obtaining confirmation of the staff quality through certification in selected areas, further goals of the project concerning increasing the competitiveness of the university on the international market and confirmation of the high level of education will be met. Teaching staff with a number of recognized certifications in a given field, as well as an educational program based on standards presented at the most important training courses in a given subject, will make it possible to convince more foreign students to begin their educational path at the University.
Task 3 – Development of teaching and promotional materials necessary for the implementation of IMPK
In order to achieve the objectives of the project, the preparation of materials dedicated to students will be divided into three main areas. The first area will be devoted to achieving the goal of popularization of science in Poland as well as presenting Polish culture among foreign students. Films presenting Polish culture will be developed. If the IMPK is implemented in hybrid form, foreign students will be introduced to the basics of Polish folk dances. A virtual tour of the University will also be prepared, including a presentation of key people, major scientific achievements and laboratory resources available to students. In addition, a film will be created presenting the city of Poznan with its historical background and with information about the most important museums (including Enigma) and monuments. The final element of this area will be the preparation of films presenting the teaching staff responsible for the implementation of the IMPK.
The remaining two areas (one for the remote form andthe other for the hybrid form) will be devoted to the development of teaching materials enabling the acquisition of knowledge and skills necessary for the overall implementation of secure modern IoT systems. The developed materials will incorporate the latest state of the art and solutions in IoT systems, their security, and attack detection and analysis techniques. Thanks to this approach, Poland will be presented as a country where the latest trends in cyber security are being implemented, and the University itself as a place with high level of education.
In the area devoted to the development of teaching materials for the purpose of remote course delivery, interactive multimedia presentations will be created. For each presentation, videos using “green screen” will be prepared where members of the teaching staff will have the opportunity to discuss issues in detail. In addition, videos will be prepared presenting the laboratory kits dedicated to the performance of certain tasks within the IMPK with their detailed descriptions.. In addition, laboratory manuals will be developed – along with an overview of individual tasks reflected in practical implementations of ICT systems and based on software made available to students.
In the area devoted to the development of teaching materials for the purpose of delivering the course in hybrid mode, laboratory materials will be prepared on the basis of the resources available at the university provided by the leading hardware vendors such as Cisco, Huawei, Check Point, Juniper, Palo Alto, which are necessary for the implementation of modern secure ICT systems.. In addition, special laboratory sets dedicated to the implementation of the various parts of IMPK will be built.
Developing the course this way will allow the University to increase its competitiveness in the international market and raise the level of education.
All materials will be developed in accordance with WCAG 2.1 accessibility guidelines.
Task 4 – Preparation of software necessary for the implementation of courses and enabling remote access to laboratory resources used for the implementation of IMPK.
Within the task, all the necessary work will be done to allow students to access the developed materials and resources necessary for the implementation of the tasks as well as the virtual machine with the software used for the implementation of IMPK.
In order to provide access to teaching materials, dedicated courses will be prepared and made available on the Moodle platform. Both presentations and videos, as well as applications for programming, including Jupyter Notebook, will be placed on this platform. This will enable students to have constant access to all resources and explore this field of knowledge , as well as to take tests to verify their progress. Thanks to the teaching team’s experience in realizing remote learning and working with the Moodle platform, this solution will ensure optimal quality of education. For online communication with students, eMeeting (BigBlueButton) and Zoom solutions will be used.
The second important element of the task will be to enable remote access to computers located in the laboratories of Poznan University of Technology. This access will be based on Windows Remote Desktop. Each student will be given an individual user account, used for remote laboratory classes, which will be supervised by IMPK teaching staff. Gaining access to the computers in the lab will enable tasks to be performed on connected components (network devices from leading vendors, IoT devices) that are inaccessible to students from home. Laboratory sets prepared this way can be used under the supervision of the instructor in order to develop practical skills. In addition, through remote access, students will be given the opportunity to use software used in the lab, such as simulation/emulation environments from Check Point, Cisco and Huawei, among others.
The third component of the task will be the development of virtual machines with an interface in English dedicated to independent student work on open-source software within the IMPK. Environments prepared this way will allow practical exercises to be conducted remotely or stationary. This will make it possible to remain independent of epidemic conditions and movement restrictions in the country or in the world. For each of the foreseen modules a separate machine will be prepared., equipped with a set of tools needed to carry out exercises independently. The reason for the preparation of several smaller machines is related to the limitation of the required free disk space necessary to run a single machine. Thanks to the use of virtual machines, independence from the hardware resources managed operating system will be achieved and students will be able to carry out the course on private computers without the need to install additional software and with the use of common environment.
Task 5 – Recruitment process of IMPK participants at the EUNICE European University partner universities and at the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas Peru.
Within the foreseen task students interested in participating in the established IMPK will be recruited.. Both for courses in online mode (2 editions of 60 students each are expected) and for the Summer School held in hybrid mode (45 students). The main task will be to select the best foreign students interested in participating the IMPK. The beneficiaries of the recruitment for participation in the Summer School will be paid a one-time scholarship, which will enable them to cover the costs of travel to Poland, as well as accommodation and food cost for 1 month. In order to do so regulations will be developed to identify the most talented students, and applications will be reviewed by a committee. The committee will consist of academic teachers who have experience in recruiting international students, and a representative of the International Relations Office. The evaluation criteria for students applications will take into account, in particular:
- the last year’s average grade point
- English language knowledge at a communicative level confirmed by the home University,
- other possible achievements.
The competition will guarantee the principle of equal opportunities and non-discrimination of submitted student applications in order to support the most talented students and develop cooperation with foreign entities.
Recruitment will be carried out at all of the Eunice European University Alliance partner universities as well as in in Peru. Thanks to large number of international activities carried out at the Poznan University of Technology, it will be possible to disseminate materials promoting the IMPK prepared in Task 10.4 to, among others, in universities that are part of the EUNICE European University Alliance (Brandenburg University of Technology, University of Cantabria, University of Catania, University of Mons, Université Polytechnique Hauts-de-France, University of Vaasa) and other associated universities (University of Maribor, Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas Peru). A total of 115 students from European universities and 50 students from Peru are planned.
Task 6 – Conducting IMPK in remote form as an additional teaching offer for study participants
The implementation of IMPK in remote form will be possible with the help of a dedicated e-learning platform based on the Moodle platform. Students will gain access to teaching materials in the form of: interactive multimedia presentations, recordings with overview of theoretical issues, laboratory instructions, instructional videos of laboratory tasks. Implementation of the IMPK will be supported by providing remote access to PUT computers connected to off-the-shelf laboratory sets and equipped with specialized software. In addition, a virtual machine with instructions will be provided to students, containing a set of software necessary for the implementation of the course, which will enable reliable work in accordance with the instructions. The teaching staff will include employees of the PUT Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications and the EUNICE European University, among others from BTU.
The entire course will be divided into 4 basic thematic blocks:
- IoT and IIoT, including: construction, configuration and security of IoT system, edge processing, construction of industrial IoT systems, protocols used for communication,
- Networks, including: local networks used to build the IoT system and its security, data transmission from end devices to the system that analyzes the received resultsand secures them,
- Big Data, including: analysis, security and interpretation of data from the IoT system, security of used applications and algorithms,
- System security, including: security auditing, penetration testing and hacking, post-hack analysis, IT forensics.
There will be 2 rounds of IMPK delivered remotely, lasting 40 days each. During the course of the remote learning, teaching staff will be constantly available to students to help them with their assignments and answer all their questions. This task will enable the project to achieve its main objective by offering IMPK on cyber security of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to students from foreign partner universities of EUNICE European University as well as UPC from Peru and TH Wildau from Germany. The implementation of the IMPK in a remote form will also support an increase in the interest of foreign students in PUT’S educational offer, and thus the number of foreign students seeing the benefits of studying in Poland. The innovative approach to the implementation of IMPK, together with materials promoting Polish culture and presenting the beauty of our country, will additionally support the popularization of Poland and Polish universities. Cooperation with universities in the EU, the US and Peru will be an additional argument to convince students from many different places in the world to study at PUT. In addition, IMPK will be made available to Polish universities participating in the European universities initiative/other forms of exchange.
After completing IMPK, students will receive certificates of completion and 15 ECTS points.
Task 7 – Conduction of IMPK in hybrid form within the framework of the summer school for EUNICE students and partner universities.
Within the task, IMPK will be offered to foreign students in a hybrid mode, divided into 2 parts, in which 45 students are expected to take part. The teaching staff will include employees of PUT Department of Computer Science and Telecommunications and EUNICE European University, among others from BTU.
During the first part (12-30.06), students will start remote learning on a dedicated e-learning platformand will get acquainted with theoretical issues through access to teaching materials in the form of: interactive multimedia presentations together with their overview. . The online part will last 20 days (60 hours) and during this time the teaching staff will constantly be available to students online.
During the second part (03-30.07), students will realize the course in an onsite mode on the premises of PUT, through laboratory classes (60 hrs.) in three, 15-person groups. Each group, under the supervision of teaching staff, will have access to network equipment, IoT lab kits and specialized software. Students will also be introduced to Polish culture, will take a sighseeing tour of Poznań and will take dance course (20 hours). During the stationary part of the summer school, students will be placed in PUT dormitories.
The entire course will be divided into 4 basic thematic blocks:
- IoT and IIoT, including: construction, configuration and security of IoT system, edge processing, construction of industrial IoT systems, protocols used for communication,
- Networks, including: local networks used to build the IoT system and its security, data transmission from end devices to the system that analyzes the received results and secures them,
- Big Data, including: analysis, security and interpretation of data from the IoT system, security of used applications and algorithms,
- System security, including: security auditing, penetration testing and hacking, post-hack analysis, IT forensics.
University as well as UPC from Peru and TH Wildau from Germany. The implementation of the IMPK in a remote form will also support an increase in the interest of foreign students in PUT educational offer, and thus the number of foreign students seeing the benefits of studying in Poland. The innovative approach to the implementation of IMPK, together with materials promoting Polish culture and presenting the beauty of our country, will additionally support the popularization of Poland and Polish universities. Cooperation with universities in the EU, the US and Peru will be an additional argument to convince students from many different places in the world to study at PUT. In addition, IMPK will be made available to Polish universities participating in the European universities initiative/other forms of exchange.
After completing the IMPK and passing its theoretical and practical parts, students will receive certificates of completion of the summer school and 15 ECTS credits.