Cybersecurity Summer School at FEEC BUT Attracted High School Students

The Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Communication at Brno University of Technology hosted a Cybersecurity Summer School from June 23-25, organized by the Department of Telecommunications. The three-day program offered high school students a comprehensive overview of the most common cyber attacks and defenses, fundamentals of ethical hacking, malware analysis, and industrial systems security.

Cybersecurity Summer School at FEEC BUT. | Author: Zdeňka Koubová

In addition to lecturers from FEEC BUT, experts from the University of Defence were also involved in the summer school, with whom the faculty has long-term cooperation in cybersecurity. Lecturers Petr Gallus and Dominik Staněk from the Department of Informatics and Cyber Operations introduced participants to malware analysis and security aspects of artificial intelligence. "Cybersecurity represents a vast domain today, and the specializations of different institutions may vary. Thanks to the involvement of lecturers from the University of Defence, we were able to expand the summer school with additional important topics where these experts brought their unique knowledge and experience," adds summer school organizer Willi Lazarov.

The importance of cybersecurity in today's world cannot be underestimated. While information system outages cost money, operational technology failures can cost lives. We use industrial technologies in everyday life, and they also comprise a significant part of critical infrastructure. Students could test this very issue with lecturer Ondřej Pospíšil on the BUTCA (Brno University Technology Cyber Arena) platform, which provides real scenarios for cybersecurity testing. Students were shown actual cyber attacks and then tested the security of a wastewater treatment plant and smart electricity meters themselves.

The summer school program combined theoretical lectures with practical exercises in virtual simulated scenarios and on real devices. Students could familiarize themselves with information security, learning about the most common cyber threats and ways to protect against them. Great attention was paid to ethical hacking for vulnerability discovery and industrial security focused on critical infrastructure. In the section dedicated to artificial intelligence, participants became more familiar with large language models and learned to work with them effectively, including jailbreaking techniques to overcome their limitations.

"The positive impact of the summer school was significant. Students showed great interest especially in ethical hacking and malware analysis," evaluates Willi Lazarov. The success of the event is also evidenced by the fact that a significant portion of the 24 participants are considering continuing their studies in Information Security at FEEC BUT.

Cybersecurity Summer School at FEEC BUT. | Author: Nikola Číková

Among the most active participants was Simona Havelková from the Secondary Technical School Třebíč: "I learned about the summer school from my cybersecurity teacher and didn't hesitate to apply. I liked most how BUTCA is designed, and I was very interested in Willi Lazarov's lecture on the broader context of cybersecurity."

Enthusiasm was also shown by Matyáš Svoboda from Gymnasium Brno, Kapitána Jaroše class: "Already on the first day I learned penetration testing, which I found very good, and I also enjoyed finding vulnerabilities in the wastewater treatment plant. I could easily have managed my participation for a whole week."

Given the rapid capacity filling during registration and positive feedback from participants, the faculty plans to open the summer school next year as well, to give opportunities to other cybersecurity enthusiasts.