Creating A Customized Cybersecurity Lab Environment Using Hardware Virtualization and Containerization

Abstract

One of the primary topics to be concerned about in this digital era of the twenty-first century is cybersecurity. The fast advancement of technology, as well as the widespread availability of the Internet, has broadened the scope of cyber attacks. Due to a lack of skilled cybersecurity professionals, several institutions in Bangladesh are providing cybersecurity courses as part of their graduate programs, allowing students to learn cybersecurity skills and develop careers in the field. Students learn how to defend computer operating systems, networks, and data against cyberattacks in a graduate level cybersecurity course. They also learn how to keep track of systems and respond to security incidents. Instructors frequently feel the need for a hands-on lab environment for their students to put what they have learned in the classroom into practice. To have a clear understanding and develop appropriate abilities in cybersecurity, students must have the chance to undertake real lab work as part of their learning process. The objectives of this project is to establish a cybersecurity lab environment for a generic graduate or postgraduate level cybersecurity education leveraging the benefits of hardware virtualization and containerization. Because the software applications used in cybersecurity lab exercises aren't always trusted, hardware virtualization technologies will be employed to separate the lab environment from the host system. If a guest system is compromised while doing a cybersecurity lab exercise, the snapshot function of the hypervisor software used in hardware virtualization will be deployed to restore the guest machine to its former state. On top of the guest computer, containerization technology will be deployed to offer numerous virtual machines for each student participating in a cybersecurity lab exercise. Containers will make optimal use of resources and eliminate the need for virtual machines to boot up.