Customer Story: Lake Superior College

THEIR STORY

Since 1995, Lake Superior College has served the community and supported the economy of Northeast Minnesota and beyond by providing high-value accessible higher education and advanced training, with a growing focus on various STEM disciplines.

LSC is nationally recognized as one of the best community colleges in the United States for both quality and affordability, and their cybersecurity program is particularly highly regarded - the college is recognized by the NSA as a Center for Academic Excellence in Cybersecurity and regularly finish among the top teams in Minnesota State Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition (CCDC).

The LSC Center for Cybersecurity was established to provide students with real-world learning experiences in cybersecurity education through business and government partnerships. Thanks to their partnership with Hack The Box, they have been able to continue delivering the skills that get students into work quicker - keeping them up to date with the latest exploit techniques and providing a safe environment in which to test them.

THEIR GOAL

Matthew McCullough is the Lead Instructor of the Cybersecurity Course at LSC. When the time came to review their options for the practical side of their in-person and online curriculum, he wanted something different - something that would help his students not only learn new skills from scratch, but also practice using them in realistic scenarios.

On top of that, he wanted something that would become a core element of the course - not just a batch of virtual machines available to those who wanted them. 

Hack The Box immediately stood out to Matthew for its joined-up approach to skills development, regardless of someone’s starting knowledge level - meaning students can take on challenges based on the core skills needed for a future job in security, as well as ones that showcase the exploitation of the latest and greatest vulnerabilities.

Better yet, Matthew can see how students are progressing across various aspects of their curriculum, tracking skills growth as they apply theory to practical exercises.

THEIR SOLUTION

“After working through the process to acquire Hack The Box's platform and modules, we immediately began inserting them into the curriculum.” - Matthew McCullough, Lead Instructor in Cybersecurity, LSC

LSC opted to subscribe to both Dedicated Labs and Academy for Business to cover their needs.  Content flexibility, fresh and up-to-date content and continuous reinforcement with challenges was the stand-out appeal that HTB Business offers.

Matt deployed both solutions in tandem to get students accustomed to practicing their newly acquired skills in a practical way - like Hacking WordPress, Privilege Escalation and Password Attacks.

“The modules are challenging the students to work harder at combining skills to reach an end goal.” - Matthew McCullough, Lead Instructor in Cybersecurity, LSC

In fact, it’s such a big part of the curriculum that many students proactively share their successes within HTB on their professional profiles on LinkedIn, helping many of them secure their first roles in cyber soon after graduation by passing their practical interviews with flying colors.

THEIR SUCCESS

For Lake Superior College

• Content is already built - no in-house design of VMs or time spent troubleshooting

• Drag & drop learning paths starting with HTB Academy and progressing to practical training with Dedicated Labs - all in one interface

• Total alignment on people’s progress and where support might be needed

“Thanks to the reputation that Hack The Box has built, and encouraging students to post their module completion certificates to LinkedIn, we have students being hired only a month after starting to use HTB. I can't wait to see this trend continue over the rest of the academic year as we get into the more advanced modules.” - Matthew McCullough, Lead Instructor in Cybersecurity, LSC

For students

• 97% of students find a job after graduation from LSC’s course

• Happier students - easier access to practical tools to further their education

• Many students find a job within a month of graduation

• Graduates now work at companies like 3M, Best Buy, Target, Trustwave, Symantec and various State Government entities

PRODUCTS USED

Dedicated Labs

• Private lab environment and VPN server

• Team and user administration & reporting

• Six new machines added every month

Academy for Business

• Interactive, guided training paths

• Certificates of completion

• Unlimited access to content

Pwnbox

• Students can play machines and challenges on any device, including iPads and more

• Professors can watch along with students’ cyber exercises

HTB Business helps hundreds of higher education institutions like Lake Superior College attract, train, develop and engage cybersecurity students in a single platform, and we can do it for you too. Get in touch to see how we can help: LET’S TALK.

About HTB for Universities

Hack The Box trains the world’s best hackers through our online training platform and rapidly growing hacking community of almost 1,000,000 members worldwide. The platform allows users to practice and level up their cybersecurity skills through a hands-on, self-paced, and gamified learning experience. From hundreds of constantly updated virtual hacking labs to a plethora of interactive courses at HTB Academy, Hack The Box is on a mission to upscale the cybersecurity capabilities of every professional and organization in the world by making cybersecurity training accessible to everyone.