Goals, Models, and Progress towards Establishing a Virtual Information Security Laboratory in Maine

Information security education remains a critical topic in today’s information driven societies. Educational institutions have been called to action to help raise information security awareness, knowledge and skills in those they serve. Cyber defense competitions are an attractive option to help raise awareness and interest in information security. Effective information security educational activities and cyber defense competitions most often require significant technical resource requirements including an information security laboratory infrastructure. Universities and other organizations have made progress to date in defining and demonstrating practical information security laboratory infrastructures. The purpose of this paper is to identify the goals associated with establishing an information security laboratory that will support information security education and outreach efforts within Maine, identify models that have been successfully demonstrated to date, and report on progress made in the design and implementation of this laboratory in Maine.